THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 

OF  CALIFORNIA 

LOS  ANGELES 

GIFT  OF 


Kate  Gordon  Moore 


\ 


i 

2 


The 

Choice  of  Books 

By 

Charles  F.  Richardson 


Profesior  of  English  in  Danmontb  College 
Author  of  ^'A  History  of  Americain  Literature,"  etc. 


Authorized  Edition^  Revised 


Together  with 

Suggestions  for  Libraries 

Selected  Lists  of  Books  of  Reference,  Hbtory,  Biography,  and 
Literature,   with  the  Best  Current  Editions 
Notes  and  Pnces 


G.  P.  Putnam's  Sons 

New  York  and  London 

Cbe  ftnfcfterbocltet  press 

1905 


Copyright,  1905 

BY 

CHARLES  F.  RICHARDSON 
For  Revised  Edition 


Ube  ftnfclierboclier  press,  new  Vorli 


"L 


lOOl 

PREFACE 

THE  chapters  composing  this  handbook  were 
originally  printed  as  weekly  contributions 
to  a  literary  newspaper  in  1880  and  1881, 
and  were  gathered  into  book  form  in  the  latter 
year.  An  English  reissue  and  a  Russian  trans- 
lation soon  followed.  Owing  to  an  accidental  loss 
of  copyright  the  many  subsequent  American  edi- 
tions, bearing  various  imprints,  have  been  beyond 
the  author's  control;  but  he  has  taken  pleasure 
in  the  fact  that  the  treatise  has  apparently  con- 
tinued to  be  helpful,  notwithstanding  the  later 
appearance  of  many  excellent  works  of  similar 
purpose. 

In  the  present  issue  many  new  pages  have  been 
added,  while  the  less  essential  portions  of  the 
earlier  editions  have  been  dropped.  The  author 
has  preferred,  however,  to  retain  the  general  plan 
and  method  unchanged,  as  having  proved  to  be 
of  practical  service.  Direct  usefulness  has  been 
kept  in  mind,  rather  than  the  endeavour  to  pre- 
sent a  sheaf  of  essays  concerning  literary  themes. 


9^A-XS^ 


iv  preface 

With  this  end  in  view,  large  use  has  been  made, 
as  before,  of  citations  from  the  best  authorities, 
old  and  new,  so  that  the  work  is  a  sort  of  treasury 
of  wise  thoughts  on  books  and  reading. 

"  Here  then," — in  the  words  of  2  Maccabees, 
xxxiii., — "  we  will  begin  the  narration;  let  this 
be  enough  by  way  of  a  preface;  for  it  is  a  foolish 
thing  to  make  a  long  prologue  and  to  be  short  in 
the  story  itself." 

Dartmouth  Coi,IvEge, 
September  i,  1905. 


CONTENTS 

PAGE 

The  Motive  of  Reading i 

The  Reading  Habit 9 

What  Books  to  Read 25 

The  Best  Time  to  Read 46 

How  Much  to  Read 58 

Remembering  What  One  Reads         •       .        •      73 

The  Use  of  Note-Books 82 

The  Cui^tivation  of  Taste 91 

Poetry •       ,        .    106 

The  Art  of  Skipping 119 

The  Use  of  Translations 127 

How  TO  Read  Periodicai^ 136 

Reading  Au)ud  and  Reading  Ci,ubs  .        .        .145 

What  Books  to  Own 159 

The  Use  of  Pubwc  Libraries       .        .        .        .177 
The  True  Service  of  Reading     .       ,        .        .195 

Index 203 

Suggestions  for  Home  Libraries 


The  Choice  of  Books 


THE  MOTIVE  OF  READING 

**  •'"X  F  making  many  books  there  is  no  end," 
I  I  said  the  wise  man  of  three  thousand 
^'"^  years  ago;  and  he  added  the  equally 
true  statement  that  "much  study" — that  is, 
much  reading — "  is  a  weariness  of  the  flesh."  A 
fourteenth  century  commentator,  in  considering 
this  text,  drew  the  conclusion  that  no  books  may 
rightly  be  read  save  "  the  bokis  of  hooli  scrip- 
ture," and  "  other  bokis,  that  ben  nedeful  to  the 
understonding  of  hooli  scripture."  Modem 
readers,  reared  outside  the  close  atmosphere  of 
mediaeval  cloisters,  are  of  course  not  so  narrow  in 
their  interpretation  of  this  text;  but  all  will  agree 
that  a  wise  choice  must  be  made  from  the  great 
stores  of  literature  that  the  ages  have  accumu- 
lated, from  the  days  of  papyrus  scrolls  and  birch- 
bark  writings  to  these  times,  when  scarcely  any 
country  town  is  without  its  library. 
I 


XTbe  Cbolce  ot  IBoohs 


It  has  been  estimated — of  course  by  a  rough 
system  of  guesswork — that  the  total  number  of 
volumes  in  the  world  is  more  than  three  billion, 
or  two  per  capita.  Mr.  Gladstone  once  said  that 
we  must  "  bow  our  heads  to  the  inevitable:  the 
day  of  encyclopaedic  learning  has  gone  by  .  .  . 
A  vast,  even  a  bewildering  prospect  is  before  us, 
for  evil  or  for  good;  but  for  good,  unless  it  be  our 
own  fault,  far  more  than  evil."  Indeed,  this 
venerable  book-lover  felt  that  he  would  like  to  do 
something  to  "prevent  the  population  of  Great 
Britain  from  being  extruded,  some  centuries 
hence,  into  the  surrounding  waters  by  the  exorbi- 
tant dimensions  of  their  own  libraries."  Revers- 
ing the  figure,  Felix  Adler  likens  book-making 
and  periodical-making  to  a  flood:  "The  present 
condition  in  literature  is  like  that  which  prevailed, 
or  is  said  according  to  the  Bible  to  have  pre- 
vailed, on  earth  immediately  after  Noah  entered 
the  ark.  A  deluge  has  set  in.  It  rains  and  rains 
books  and  reviews  and  magazines  and  pamphlets; 
and  then  there  are  the  newspapers.  The  flood 
rises  higher  and  higher.  It  comes  into  our 
houses,  empties  itself  on  our  bookshelves  and 
loads  our  tables.  We  are  up  to  our  necks  in 
it,  and  in  alarm  we  cry  that  we  shall  drown! 


XTbe  /Dotipe  ot  IReaMna 


.  .  .  The  deluge  is  upon  us;  but  the  rock  of 
safety  is  at  hand.  The  rock  of  safety  is  the 
world's  best  literature,  the  things  that  have  been 
approved  in  the  experience  of  generations." 

Literature  is  the  written  record  of  valuable 
thought,  having  other  than  a  merely  technical 
purpose.  It  is  the  preserved  sum-total  of  the  best 
ideas  of  the  world's  noblest  men  and  women.  It 
is  the  tale  of  "  that  common  humanity  whose 
sorrowings  and  sinnings,  whose  hopes  and  joys 
and  little  triumphs,  constitute  the  great  story 
which  all  the  pens  of  time  have  tried  to  tell — the 
story  which  leads  back  and  sets  man  face  to  face 
with  the  Undiscoverable. "  '  Of  all  existing  oc- 
cupations, therefore,  none  is  better  than  that  of 
good  reading,  wisely  to  be  used.  It  is  treasure 
laid  up  for  heaven,  for  the  mind  endures  when 
the  body  is  scattered  dust.  Literature  is  more  real 
and  more  lasting  than  stocks  and  bonds,  statues 
and  buildings.  ' '  The  world  of  the  imagination,' ' 
says  Lowell,  "  is  not  the  world  of  abstraction  and 
nonentity,  as  some  conceive,  but  a  world  formed 
out  of  chaos  by  a  sense  of  the  beauty  that  is  in 
man  and  the  earth  on  which  he  dwells.  .  .  . 
Every  book  we  read  may  be  made  a  round  in  the 
'  E.  Hough. 


Ube  Cboice  ot  Boohs 


ever-lengthening  ladder  by  which  we  climb  to 
knowledge  and  to  that  temperance  and  serenity 
of  mind  which,  as  it  is  the  ripest  fruit  of  wisdom, 
is  also  the  sweetest.  .  .  .  The  riches  of 
scholarship,  the  benignities  of  literature,  defy 
fortune  and  outlive  calamity.  They  are  beyond 
the  reach  of  thief  or  moth  or  rust.  As  they  can- 
not be  inherited,  so  they  cannot  be  alienated." 

"  The  grandest  aim  of  imaginative  art,"  says 
Ruskin,  "  is  to  give  men  noble  grounds  for  noble 
emotion."  I/iterature  is  but  one  of  the  imagina- 
tive arts;  and  it  is  that  art  which  presupposes  a 
development  of  culture,  which  has  been  aptly  de- 
fined as  an  "  interest  in  the  best  things  said  and 
written  in  the  world."  ' 

The  best  things  are  the  remnant,  the  chosen 
few,  the  selected  minority.  There  were  nine 
sibylline  books,  then  three  were  thrown  away, 
then  again  three,  but  the  remaining  ones  were 
more  valuable  than  the  nine.  Literature,  says 
John  Morley,  "consists  of  all  the  books  —  and 
they  are  not  so  many — where  moral  truth  and 
human  passion  are  touched  with  a  certain  large- 
ness, sanity,  and  attraction  of  form." 

More  and  more,  therefore,  is  there  need  of 
'The  Evening  Sun. 


XTbe  fJbotivc  of  IRcaMng 


James  Russell  Lowell's  advice:  "  The  first  lesson 
in  reading  well  is  that  which  teaches  us  to  dis- 
tinguish between  literature  and  merely  printed 
matter.     The  choice  lies  wholly  with  ourselves." 

"  We  are  now,"  says  Disraeli,  "  in  want  of  an 
art  to  teach  how  books  are  to  be  read,  rather  than 
to  read  them;  such  an  art  is  practicable." 

The  very  first  thing  to  be  remembered  by  him 
who  would  study  the  art  of  reading  is  that  no- 
thing can  take  the  place  of  personal  enthusiasm 
and  personal  work.  However  wise  may  be  the 
friendly  adviser,  and  however  full  and  perfect  the 
chosen  handbook  of  reading,  neither  can  do  more 
than  to  stimulate  and  suggest.  Nothing  can  take 
the  place  of  a  direct  familiarity  with  books  them- 
selves. To  know  one  good  book  well  is  better 
than  to  know  something  adotif  a  hundred  good 
books,  at  second  hand.  The  taste  for  reading  and 
the  habit  of  reading  must  always  be  developed 
from  within;  they  can  never  be  given  from 
without. 

All  plans  and  systems  of  reading,  then,  should 
be  taken,  as  far  as  possible,  into  one's  heart  of 
hearts,  and  be  made  a  part  of  his  own  mind  and 
thought.  Unless  this  can  be  done,  they  are  worse 
than  useless.     Dr.  McCosh  says:  "  The  book  to 


Ube  Cboicc  of  3Boohs 


read  is  not  the  one  that  thinks  for  you,  but  the 
one  which  makes  you  think."  It  is  plain,  then, 
that  a  "  course  of  reading  "  may  be  a  great  good 
or  a  great  evil,  according  to  its  use.  Bishop 
Alonzo  Potter,  in  his  day  one  of  the  most  judicious 
of  literary  helpers,  offered  to  readers  this  sound 
piece  of  advice :  ' '  Do  not  be  so  enslaved  by  any 
system  or  course  of  study  as  to  think  it  may  not 
be  altered,"  However  conscious  one  may  be  of 
his  own  deficiencies,  and  however  he  may  feel  the 
need  of  outside  aid,  he  should  never  permit  his 
own  independence  and  self-respect  to  be  obliter- 
ated.    "  He  who  reads  incessantly,"  says  Milton, 

"and  to  his  reading  brings  not 
A  spirit  and  judgment  equal  or  superior, 
Uncertain  and  unsettled  still  remains, 
Deep  versed  in  books,  but  shallow  in  himself." 

The  general  agreement  of  intelligent  people  as 
to  the  merit  of  an  author  or  the  worth  of  a  book 
is,  of  course,  to  be  accepted  until  one  finds  some 
valid  reason  for  reversing  it.  But  nothing  is  to 
be  gained  by  pretending  to  like  what  one  really 
dislikes,  or  to  enjoy  what  one  does  not  find  profit- 
able, or  even  intelligible.  If  a  reader  is  not  honest 
and  sincere  in  this  matter,  there  is  small  hope  for 
him.     The  lowest  taste  may  be  cultivated  and 


tCbe  ADotivc  of  IReaMng 


improved,  and  radically  changed;  but  pretence 
and  artificiality  can  never  grow  into  anything 
better.  They  must  be  wholly  rooted  out  at  the 
start.  If  you  dislike  Shakespeare's  Hamlet,  and 
greatly  enjoy  a  trashy  story,  say  so  with  sincerity 
and  sorrow,  if  occasion  requires,  and  hope  and 
work  for  a  reversal  of  your  taste.  "It 's  guid  to 
be  honest  and  true,"  says  Bums,  and  nowhere  is 
honesty  more  needed  than  here. 

For  honesty's  sake,  accordingly,  let  us  grant  at 
the  start  that  the  busiest  reader  must  leave  unread 
all  but  a  mere  fraction  of  the  good  books  in  the 
world.  The  reading  of  a  book  a  fortnight,  or  say 
twenty- five  books  a  year,  is  quite  as  much  as  the 
average  reader  can  possibly  achieve  —  a  rate  at 
which  only  125c  books  could  be  read  in  half  a 
century.  Since  this  is  so,  he  must  be  very 
thoughtless  or  very  timid  who  feels  any  shame 
in  confessing  that  he  is  wholly  ignorant  of  a  great 
many  books.  Be  not  appalled  at  the  thought  of 
the  thousands  of  volumes  issued  yearly,  or  the 
millions  in  libraries;  but  be  ashamed  only  of 
your  own  abandonment  of  time  that  rightly  be- 
longs to  reading.  On  the  other  hand,  none  but 
a  very  superficial  and  conceited  reader  will  ven- 
ture to  express  surprise  at  the  deficiencies  of 


Xlbc  Cboice  of  JSoohs 


others,  when  a  little  thought  would  make  his  own 
so  clearly  manifest.     In  Cowper's  words: 

"  Knowledge  is  proud  that  he  has  learned  so  much ; 
Wisdom  is  humble  that  he  knows  no  more." 


THE  READING  HABIT 

THERE  are  some  persons  who  are  so  fortu- 
nate as  to  be  unable  to  tell  when  they 
formed  the  habit  of  reading;  who  find  it 
a  constant  and  ever-increasing  advantage  and 
pleasure,  their  whole  lives  long;  and  who  will 
not  lay  it  down  so  long  as  they  live.  Their 
youth  and  old  age  are  so  bound  up  in  the  reading 
habit  that,  if  questioned  as  to  its  first  inception 
and  probable  end,  they  can  only  reply,  like 
Dimple-chin  and  Grizzled-face,  in  Mr.  Stedman's 
pretty  poem  of  "  Toujours  Amour  " :  "Ask  some 
younger  lass  than  I  ";  "Ask  some  older  sage  than 
I."  Happy  are  those  whose  early  surroundings 
thus  permit  them  unconsciously  to  associate  with 
books;  whose  parents  and  friends  surround  them 
with  good  reading;  and  whose  time  is  so  appor- 
tioned, in  childhood  and  youth,  as  to  permit  them 
to  give  a  fair  share  of  it  to  reading,  as  well  as  to 
study  in  school,  on  the  one  hand,  and  physical 
labour,  on  the  other.  It  is  plain  that  a  great 
duty  and  responsibility  thus  rests  upon  the  parents 
and  guardians  and  teachers  of  the  young,  at  the 
9 


lo  Ube  Cboice  of  JSoohs 

very  outset.  It  is  theirs  to  furnish  the  books, 
and  to  stimulate  and  suggest,  in  ever)'  wise  way, 
the  best  methods  of  reading. 

Just  where,  in  this  early  formation  of  the  read- 
ing habit,  absolute  direction  should  end  and  ad- 
vice begin,  is  a  matter  which  the  individual 
parent  or  guardian  must  decide  for  himself,  in 
large  measure.  Perhaps  there  is  greater  danger 
of  too  much  direction  than  of  too  much  sugges- 
tion. It  is  well  to  give  the  young  reader,  in 
great  part,  the  privilege  of  forming  his  own  plans 
and  making  his  own  choice.  Of  this  promotion 
of  self- development  Herbert  Spencer  says:  "  In 
education  the  process  of  self-development  should 
be  encouraged  to  the  fullest  extent.  Children 
should  be  led  to  make  their  own  investigations, 
and  to  draw  their  own  inferences.  They  should 
be  told  a.s  little  as  possible,  and  induced  to  discover 
as  much  as  possible.  Humanity  has  progressed 
solely  by  self-instruction;  and  that  to  achieve  the 
best  results  each  mind  must  progress  somewhat 
after  the  same  fashion,  is  continually  proved  by 
the  marked  success  of  self-made  men.  Those 
who  have  been  brought  up  under  the  ordinary 
school-drill,  and  have  carried  away  with  them 
the  idea  that  education  is  practicable  only  in  that 


TTbe  IRcaMng  f}abit 


style,  will  think  it  hopeless  to  make  children  their 
own  teachers.  If,  however,  they  will  call  to  mind 
that  the  all-important  knowledge  of  surrounding 
objects  which  a  child  gets  in  its  early  years  is  got 
without  help  ;  if  they  will  remember  that  the  child 
is  self-taught  in  the  use  of  its  mother's  tongue;  if 
they  will  estimate  the  amount  of  that  experience 
of  life,  that  out-of-school  wisdom  which  every  boy 
gathers  for  himself;  if  they  will  mark  the  unusual 
intelligence  of  the  uncared-for  London  gamin,  as 
shown  in  all  directions  in  which  his  faculties  have 
been  tasked;  if,  further,  they  will  think  how 
many  minds  have  struggled  up  unaided,  not  only 
through  the  mysteries  of  our  irrationally-planned 
curriculum,  but  through  hosts  of  other  obstacles 
besides,  they  will  find  it  a  not  unreasonable  con- 
clusion that  if  the  subjects  be  put  before  him  in 
right  order  and  right  form,  any  pupil  of  ordinary 
capacity  will  surmount  his  successive  difficulties 
with  but  little  assistance.  Who  indeed  can  watch 
the  ceaseless  observation  and  inquiry  and  in- 
ference going  on  in  a  child's  mind,  or  listen  to  its 
acute  remarks  on  matters  within  the  range  of  its 
faculties,  without  perceiving  that  these  powers 
which  it  manifests,  if  brought  to  bear  systemati- 
cally upon  any  studies  within  the  same  range, 


12  Ube  Cbotce  of  Boofts 

would  readily  master  them  without  help  ?  This 
need  for  perpetual  telling  is  the  result  of  our  stu- 
pidity, not  of  the  child's.  We  drag  it  away  from 
the  facts  in  which  it  is  interested,  and  which  it  is 
actively  assimilating  of  itself;  we  put  before  it 
facts  far  too  complex  for  it  to  understand,  and 
therefore  distasteful  to  it;  finding  that  it  will 
not  voluntarily  acquire  these  facts,  we  thrust 
them  into  its  mind  by  force  of  threats  and  punish- 
ment; by  thus  denying  the  knowledge  it  craves, 
and  cramming  it  with  knowledge  it  cannot  digest, 
we  produce  a  morbid  state  of  its  faculties,  and  a 
consequent  disgust  for  knowledge  in  general;  and 
when  as  a  result  partly  of  the  stolid  indifference 
we  have  brought  on,  and  partly  of  still  continued 
unfitness  in  its  studies,  the  child  can  understand 
nothing  without  explanation,  and  becomes  a  mere 
passive  recipient  of  our  instruction,  we  infer  that 
education  must  necessarily  be  carried  on  thus. 
Having  by  our  method  induced  helplessness,  we 
straightway  make  the  helplessness  a  reason  for 
our  method." 

After  making  all  needed  deductions  from  the 
somewhat  impatient  spirit  in  which  Mr.  Spencer 
here  speaks,  it  can  hardly  be  questioned  that  the 
young  reader  —  and  most  of  these  suggestions 


Ube  "KeaMna  "fcabit  13 

apply  equally  well  to  those  few  who  begin  to  read 
later  in  life — will  do  much  for  himself;  and  that, 
on  the  whole,  he  stands  in  greater  need  of  a  ju- 
dicious guide  and  helper  than  of  a  rigorous  ruler 
and  taskmaster.  Of  course,  if  he  lacks  both 
guidance  and  government,  the  latter  is  better  than 
nothing;  and  there  are  times  when  only  stern 
commandment  will  avail.  But  the  rule  should 
be  made  in  accordance  with  the  large  purpose  of 
helpfulness.  The  reading  habit  is  a  growth,  a 
development,  not  a  creation;  and  all  measures  for 
its  cultivation,  whether  from  without  or  within, 
should  be  made  with  this  fact  in  mind.  And 
where  strict  and  even  stern  regulation  is  neces- 
sary, the  direction  will  be  most  profitable  that 
best  succeeds  in  causing  itself  to  be  assimilated  in 
the  mind  of  the  governed,  as  a  part  of  that  mind, 
and  not  as  a  foreign  addition. 

The  normal  child,  under  right  surroundings, 
amuses  itself  "  in  books,  or  work,  or  healthful 
play,"  now  one,  now  another.  Whether  the 
reader,  aided  by  wise  counsellors,  be  young  or  old, 
he  should  soon  become  familiar  with  the  advan- 
tage of  making  his  reading  a  part  of  all  his  daily 
life. 

As  regards    children's    reading,   parents  and 


M 


Xlbe  Cbotce  ot  Boofts 


teachers  should  use  the  "  presumption  of  brains." 
Take  it  for  granted  that  they  like  the  good. 
Children  diislike  to  be  '*  talked  down  to,"  and  it  is 
as  easy  to  interest  them  in  a  Waverley  novel  as  in  a 
"  Henty  book."  "  I  can  conceive,"  says  lyowell, 
"of  no  healthier  reading  for  a  boy,  or  a  girl  either, 
than  Scott's  novels,  or  Cooper's."  A  pleasant 
course  in  English  history  may  be  based  solely 
upon  Scott's  novels,  as  is  shown  by  the  following 
table,  in  which  each  title  is  followed  by  the  ap- 
proximate date  and  the  name  of  the  reigning 
monarch : 


Count  Robert  of  Paris 1090 

The  Betrothed 1187 

The  Talisman 1193 

Ivanhoe 1194 

Castle  Dangerous  1306-7 

The  Fair  Maid  of  Perth 1402 

Quentin  Durward 1470 

Anne  of  Geierstein 1474-7 

The  Monastery 1559 

The  Abbot 1568 

Kenilworth 1575 

The  Laird's  Jock 1600 

The  Fortunes  of  Nigel 1620 

A  Legend  of  Montrose 1645-6 

'Woodstock 1652 

Peveril  of  the  Peak 1660 

Old  Mortality 1679-90 1 


William  Rufus. 
Henry  II. 
Richard  I. 
Richard  I. 
Edward  I. 
Henry  IV. 
Edward  IV. 
Edward  IV. 
Elizabeth. 
Elizabeth. 
Elizabeth. 
Elizabeth. 
James  I. 
James  I. 
Commonwealth. 
Charles  II. 
Charles  II. 
William  and  Mary. 


Ubc  1Reat)ina  Dabtt  15 

The  Pirate 1700  William     III.   and 

Anne. 

My  Aunt  Margaret's  Mirror .  1700  William  III. 

The  Bride  of  Lammermoor. .  1700  William  III. 

The  Black  Dwarf 1708  Anne. 

Rob  Roy 1715  George  I. 

The  Heart  of  Midlothian.  . .  1736-51  George  II. 

Waverley 1745  George  II. 

The  Highland  Widow 1755  George  II. 

The  Surgeon's  Daughter 1750-70  George  II.  and  III. 

Guy  Mannering 1750-70  George  II.  and  III. 

The  Two  Drovers 1765  George  III. 

Redgauntlet 1770  George  III. 

The  Tapestried  Chamber 1780  George  III. 

The  Antiquary 1798  George  III. 

St.  Ronan's  Well 1800  George  III. 

Mr.  Ruskiu,  too,  has  spoken  of  the  duty  of 
brightening  the  beginnings  of  education,  and  of 
the  evils  of  cramming,  against  which,  happily, 
the  tide  of  the  best  contemporary  thought  is  now 
setting  strongly, — never  to  ebb,  let  us  hope. 
"  Make  your  children,"  he  says,  "  happy  ip  their 
youth;  let  distinction  come  to  them,  if  it  will, 
after  well-spent  and  well-remembered  years;  but 
let  them  now  break  and  eat  the  bread  of  heaven 
with  gladness  and  singleness  of  heart,  and  send 
portions  to  them  for  whom  nothing  is  prepared; 
and  so  heaven  send  you  its  grace,  before  meat, 
and  after  it."  Of  the  necessity  of  making  attract- 
ive the  beginnings  of  reading,  Edward  Everett 


i6  TLbc  Cbotce  ot  Boofts 

Hale  says  :  "In  the  first  place,  we  must  make 
this  business  agreeable.  Whichever  avenue  we 
take  into  the  maze  must  be  one  of  the  pleasant 
avenues,  or  else,  in  a  world  which  the  good  God 
has  made  very  beautiful,  the  young  people  will 
go  a-skating,  or  a-fishing,  or  a-swimming,  or  a- 
voyaging,  and  not  a-reading,  and  no  blame  to 
them,"  How  much  can  be  done  by  others  in 
making  the  literary  path  pleasant  is  known  to  the 
full  by  those  whose  first  steps  were  guided  therein 
by  a  wise  father,  or  mother,  or  teacher,  or  friend. 
How  strongly  the  lack  of  the  helpful  hand  is  felt, 
none  who  has  missed  it  will  need  to  be  told. 

But  those  who  must  be  their  own  helpers  need 
not  be  one  whit  discouraged.  The  history  of  the 
world  is  full  of  bright  examples  of  the  value  of 
self-training,  as  shown  by  the  subsequent  success 
won  as  readers,  and  writers,  and  workers  in  every 
department  of  life,  by  those  who  apparently 
lacked  both  books  to  read  and  time  to  read  them, 
or  even  the  candle  wherewith  to  light  the  printed 
page.  It  would  be  easy  to  fill  this  whole  series 
of  chapters  with  accounts  of  the  way  in  which  the 
reading  habit  has  been  acquired  and  followed  in 
the  face  of  every  obstacle.  A  single  bit  of  per- 
sonal reminiscence  may  be  taken  as  the  type  of 


XTbe  IReaMnG  "fcabit  17 

thousands.  It  is  the  story  told  by  Robert  Collyer, 
who  worked  his  way  from  the  anvil,  in  a  little 
English  town,  up  to  a  commanding  position 
among  American  preachers.  "  Do  you  want  to 
know,"  he  asked,  "  how  I  manage  to  talk  to  you 
in  this  simple  Saxon  ?  I  will  tell  you.  I  read 
Bunyan,  Crusoe,  and  Goldsmith  when  I  was  a 
boy,  morning,  noon,  and  night.  All  the  rest  was 
task- work;  these  were  my  delight,  with  the  stories 
in  the  Bible,  and  with  Shakespeare,  when  at  last 
the  mighty  master  came  within  our  doors.  The 
rest  were  as  senna  to  me.  These  were  like  a  well 
of  pure  water,  and  this  is  the  first  step  I  seem  to 
have  taken  of  my  own  free  will  toward  the  pulpit. 
.  .  .  I  took  to  these  as  I  took  to  milk,  and, 
without  the  least  idea  what  I  was  doing,  got  the 
taste  of  simple  words  into  the  very  fibre  of  my 
nature.  There  was  day-school  for  me  until  I  was 
eight  years  old,  and  then  I  had  to  turn  in  and 
work  thirteen  hours  a  day.  .  .  .  From  the 
days  when  we  used  to  spell  out  Crusoe  and  old 
Bunyan  there  had  grown  up  in  me  a  devouring 
hunger  to  read  books.  It  made  small  matter 
what  they  were,  so  they  were  books.  Half  a 
volume  of  an  old  encyclopaedia  came  along — the 
first  I  had  ever  seen.     How  many  times  I  went 


i8  Ube  Cboice  ot  Boofts 

through  that  I  cannot  even  guess.  I  remember 
that  I  read  some  old  reports  of  the  Missionary 
Society  with  the  greatest  delight.  There  were 
chapters  in  them  about  China  and  Labrador, 
Yet  I  think  it  is  in  reading  as  it  is  in  eating : 
when  the  first  hunger  is  over  you  begin  to  be  a 
little  critical,  and  will  by  no  means  take  to  gar- 
bage if  you  are  of  a  wholesome  nature.  And  I 
remember  this  because  it  touches  this  beautiful 
valley  of  the  Hudson.  I  could  not  go  home  for 
the  Christmas  of  1839,  and  was  feeling  very  sad 
about  it  all,  for  I  was  only  a  boy;  and  sitting  by 
the  fire,  an  old  farmer  came  in  and  said:  '  I  notice 
thou  's  fond  o'  reading,  so  I  brought  thee  summat 
to  read.'  It  was  Irving's  Sketch  Book.  I  had 
never  heard  of  the  work.  I  went  at  it,  and  was 
'  as  them  that  dream.'  No  such  delight  had 
touched  me  since  the  old  days  of  Crusoe.  I  saw 
the  Hudson  and  the  Catskills,  took  poor  Rip  at 
once  into  my  heart,  as  everybody  has,  pitied 
Ichabod  while  I  laughed  at  him,  thought  the  old 
Dutch  feast  a  most  admirable  thing,  and  long  be- 
fore I  was  through,  all  regret  at  my  lost  Christ- 
mas had  gone  down  the  wind,  and  I  had  found 
out  there  are  books  and  books.  That  vast  hunger 
to  read  never  left  me.     If  there  was  no  candle,  I 


tTbe  IRcaMng  l)abit  19 

poked  my  head  down  to  the  fire;  read  while  I  was 
eating,  blowing  the  bellows,  or  walking  from  one 
place  to  another.  I  could  read  and  walk  four 
miles  an  hour.  The  world  centred  in  books. 
There  was  no  thought  in  my  mind  of  any  good  to 
come  out  of  it;  the  good  lay  in  the  reading.  I 
had  no  more  idea  of  being  a  minister  than  you 
elder  men  who  were  boys  then,  in  this  town,  had 
that  I  should  be  here  to-night  to  tell  this  story. 
Now,  give  a  boy  a  passion  like  this  for  anything, 
books  or  business,  painting  or  farming,  mechan- 
ism or  music,  and  you  give  him  thereby  a  lever 
to  lift  his  world,  and  a  patent  of  nobility,  if  the 
thing  he  does  is  noble.  There  were  two  or  three 
of  my  mind  about  books.  We  became  com- 
panions, and  gave  the  roughs  a  wide  berth.  The 
books  did  their  work,  too,  about  that  drink,  and 
fought  the  devil  with  a  finer  fire.  I  remember 
while  I  was  yet  a  lad  reading  Macaulay's  great 
essay  on  Bacon,  and  I  could  grasp  its  wonderful 
beauty.  There  has  been  no  time  when  I  have 
not  felt  sad  that  there  should  have  been  no  chance 
for  me  at  a  good  education  and  training.  I  miss 
it  every  day,  but  such  chances  as  were  left  lay  in 
that  everlasting  hunger  to  still  be  reading.  I 
was  tough  as  leather,  and  could  do  the  double 


20  Tlbe  Cboicc  ot  Boohs 

stint,  and  so  it  was  that,  all  unknown  to  myself,  I 
was  as  one  that  soweth  good  seed  in  his  field." 

With  young  or  old,  there  is  no  such  helper 
toward  the  reading  habit  as  the  cultivation  of  this 
warm  and  undying  feeling  of  the  friendliness  of 
books, — in  which  subject  Frederick  Deiiison  Mau- 
rice found  enough  to  write  a  whole  volume.  If  a 
parent  or  other  guide  seems  but  a  taskmaster;  if 
his  rules  are  those  of  a  statute-book,  and  his 
society  like  that  of  an  officer  of  the  law,  there  is 
small  hope  that  his  help  can  be  made  either  serv- 
iceable or  profitable.  But  with  the  growth  of 
the  friendly  feeling  comes  a  state  of  mind  which 
renders  all  things  possible.  When  one  book  has 
become  a  friend  and  fellow,  the  world  has  grown 
that  much  broader  and  more  beautiful.  Petrarch 
said  of  his  books,  considered  as  his  friends:  "  I 
have  friends  whose  society  is  extremely  agree- 
able to  me;  they  are  of  all  ages,  and  of  every 
country.  They  have  distinguished  themselves 
both  in  the  cabinet  and  in  the  field,  and  obtained 
high  honours  for  their  knowledge  of  the  sciences. 
It  is  easy  to  gain  access  to  them,  for  they  are  al- 
ways at  my  service,  and  I  admit  them  to  ray 
company,  and  dismiss  them  from  it,  whenever  I 
please.     They  are  never  troublesome,  but  imme- 


Xlbe  IReaMna  "fcabit 


diately  answer  every  question  I  ask  them.  Some 
relate  to  me  the  events  of  the  past  ages,  while 
others  reveal  to  me  the  secrets  of  nature.  Some 
teach  me  how  to  live,  and  others  how  to  die. 
Some,  by  their  vivacity,  drive  away  my  cares  and 
exhilarate  my  spirits,  while  others  give  fortitude 
lo  my  mind  and  teach  me  the  important  lesson 
how  to  restrain  my  desires,  and  to  depend  wholly 
on  myself.  They  open  to  me,  in  short,  the  vari- 
ous avenues  of  all  the  arts  and  sciences,  and  upon 
their  information  I  safely  rely  in  all  emergencies." 
Literature,  from  Cicero  to  Andrew  Lang,  is  full 
of  such  tributes  to  the  friendship  of  books. 
Wordsworth's  oft-quoted  lines  were  made  more 
familiar  in  America  by  their  long-continued  use 
as  the  motto  of  a  literary  newspaper: 

"  Dreams,  books,  are  each  a  world  ;  and  books,  we  know, 
Are  a  substantial  world,  both  pure  and  good. 
Round  these,  with  tendrils  strong  as  flesh  and  blood. 
Our  pastime  and  our  happiness  will  grow." 

"  In  my  study,"  quaintly  said  Sir  William 
Waller,  "  I  am  sure  to  converse  with  none  but 
wise  men;  but  abroad  it  is  impossible  for  me  to 
avoid  the  society  of  fools."  Sir  John  Herschel 
called  books  *'  the  best  society  in  every  period  of 
history":    "Were  I  to  pray  for  a  taste  which 


22  Ube  Cboice  ot  Boofts 

should  stand  me  in  stead  under  every  variety  of 
circumstances,  and  be  a  source  of  happiness  and 
cheerfulness  to  me  during  life,  and  a  shield 
against  its  ills,  however  things  might  go  amiss, 
and  the  world  frown  upon  me,  it  would  be  a  taste 
for  reading.  Give  a  man  this  taste,  and  the 
means  of  gratifying  it,  and  you  can  hardly  fail  of 
making  him  a  happy  man;  unless,  indeed,  you 
put  into  his  hands  a  most  perverse  selection  of 
books.  You  place  him  in  contact  with  the  best 
society  in  every  period  of  history — with  the  wisest, 
the  wittiest,  the  tenderest,  the  bravest,  and  the 
purest  characters  who  have  adorned  humanity. 
You  make  him  a  denizen  of  all  nations,  a  con- 
temporary of  all  ages.  The  world  has  been 
created  for  him."  Among  his  books,  William 
Ellery  Chauning  could  say:  **  In  the  best  books, 
great  men  talk  to  us,  with  us,  and  give  us  their 
most  precious  thoughts.  Books  are  the  voices 
of  the  distant  and  the  dead.  Books  are  the  true 
levellers.  They  give  to  all  who  will  faithfully 
use  them  the  society  and  the  presence  of  the  best 
and  greatest  of  our  race.  No  matter  how  poor  I 
am;  no  matter  though  the  prosperous  of  my  own 
time  will  not  enter  mj^  obscure  dwelling,  if  learned 
men  and  poets  will  enter  and  take  up  their  abode 


Ube  IReaMnQ  ttabit  23 

under  my  roof, — if  Milton  will  cross  my  threshold 
to  sing  to  me  of  Paradise;  and  Shakespeare  open 
to  me  the  world  of  imagination  and  the  workings 
of  the  human  heart;  and  Franklin  enrich  me  with 
his  practical  wisdom,  I  shall  not  pine  for  intel- 
lectual companionship,  and  I  may  become  a  culti- 
vated man,  though  excluded  from  what  is  called 
the  best  society  in  the  place  where  I  live.  .  .  . 
Nothing  can  supply  the  place  of  books.  They 
are  cheering  and  soothing  companions  in  solitude, 
illness,  or  affliction.  The  wealth  of  both  conti- 
nents could  not  compensate  for  the  good  they 
impart.  Let  every  man,  if  possible,  gather  some 
good  books  under  his  roof,  and  obtain  access  for 
himself  and  family  to  some  social  library.  Al- 
most any  luxury  should  be  sacrificed  to  this." 
And  one  cannot  wonder  that  F6nelon  said:  "  If 
the  crowns  of  all  the  kingdoms  of  the  empire 
were  laid  down  at  my  feet  in  exchange  for  my 
books  and  my  love  of  reading,  I  would  spurn 
them  all";  or  that  the  historian  Gibbon  wrote: 
"  A  taste  for  books  is  the  pleasure  and  glory  of 
my  life.  I  would  not  exchange  it  for  the  glory 
of  the  Indies." 

The   same   thought   has   been    phrased  in   a 
hundred  different  ways  :    Addison  declared  that 


84  ^bs  Cboice  ot  JSoofts 

"  Books  are  the  legacies  that  a  great  genius 
leaves  to  mankind,  which  are  delivered  down 
from  generation  to  generation,  as  presents  to  the 
posterity  of  those  who  are  yet  unborn";  and  a 
forgotten  but  wholesome  American  writer,  George 
S.  Hillard,  concisely  reminded  us  that  "  Books 
are  the  friends  of  the  friendless,  and  a  library  is 
the  home  of  the  homeless."  All  these  words  of 
wise  readers  show  that  he  who  rightly  cultivates 
the  reading  habit  not  only  can  have  the  best  of 
friends  ever  at  hand,  but  can  at  length  say  with 
all  modesty,  if  he  reads  aright  and  remembers 
well:  "  My  mind  to  me  a  kingdom  is." 


WHAT  BOOKS  TO  READ 

"W  7^^^  ^^^^^  ^^^^^  ^  read?"  This 
\/\/  question  virtually  includes  in  its 
answer  the  consideration  of  the 
whole  world  of  letters,  and  is  of  such  manifest 
importance  that  no  individual  utterance,  however 
sincere  and  competent,  can  entirely  cover  the 
ground.  Diflferent  tastes  and  needs  call  for  differ- 
ent suggestions.  In  this  chapter,  therefore,  I 
prefer  to  express  my  own  conclusions  principally 
in  the  words  of  mightier  men. 

Coming  thus  definitely  to  the  choice  of  par- 
ticular books,  we  find  that  only  the  smaller  and 
pettier  guides  presume  to  mark  out  definite 
courses  of  reading.  The  master  minds  never  for- 
get that  books  were  made  for  readers,  not  readers 
for  books.  "The  best  rule  of  reading,"  says 
Emerson,  "  will  be  a  method  from  nature,  and 
not  a  mechanical  one  of  hours  and  pages.  It 
holds  each  student  to  a  pursuit  of  his  native  aim, 
instead  of  a  desultory  miscellany.  L<et  him  read 
what  is  proper  to  him,  and  not  waste  his  memory 
on  a  crowd  of  mediocrities.  As  whole  nations 
as 


26  Ube  Cboicc  ot  Bool?s 

have  derived  their  culture  from  a  single  book — as 
the  Bible  has  been  the  literature  as  well  as  the 
religion  of  large  portions  of  Europe — as  Hafiz 
was  the  eminent  genius  of  the  Persians,  Con- 
fucius of  the  Chinese,  Cervantes  of  the  Spaniards; 
so,  perhaps,  the  human  mind  would  be  a  gainer 
if  all  the  secondary  writers  were  lost — say,  in 
England,  all  but  Shakespeare,  Milton,  and  Bacon 
— through  the  profound  er  study  so  drawn  to  those 
wonderful  minds.  With  this  plot  of  his  own 
genius,  let  the  student  read  one,  or  let  him  read 
many,  he  will  read  advantageously." 

As  regards  the  Bible  as  the  only  book,  it  may 
be  noted  that  another  poet — ^Joaquin  Miller  in  his 
Californian  mountain  home — is  willing  to  make  it 
his  only  printed  library.  "  Books,  books,"  said 
he  to  a  visitor,  "  what 's  the  good  of  them  ?  The 
book  of  Nature  and  the  Bible  are  books  enough 
for  me," 

The  advantage  of  following  the  common  con- 
sent of  the  best  critics,  as  to  what  are  the  world's 
best  books,  is  further  pressed  by  Mr.  Emerson 
when  he  urges  us  to  "  be  sure  to  read  no  mean 
books  ";  and  when,  in  more  definite  language,  he 
lays  down  his  three  well-known  rules:  "i.  Never 
read  any  book  that  is  not  a  year  old.     2.  Never 


TRIlbat  Sooh0  to  lRea&  27 

read  any  but  famed  books.     3.  Never  read  any 

but  what  you  like;  or,  in  Shakespeare's  phrase — 

'  No  profit  goes  where  is  no  pleasure  ta'en  ; 
In  brief,  sir,  study  what  you  most  affect.'  " 

The  first  of  these  rules  is  clearly  not  to  be  fol- 
lowed in  every  case.  It  is,  indeed,  modified  by 
the  third  rule,  which  must  sometimes  take  pre- 
cedence of  it.  But  there  can  be  no  question  that 
the  great  majority  of  readers  are  in  much  more 
danger  of  wasting  their  time  over  books  that  are 
new,  than  of  losing  sight  of  contemporary  litera- 
ture through  an  exclusive  devotion  to  the  stand- 
ard books  of  past  ages. 

Carlyle  says  that  all  books  are  to  be  divided 
into  two  classes,  sheep  and  goats.  ' '  Readers  are 
not  aware  of  the  fact,"  he  says,  "  but  a  fact  it  is 
of  daily  increasing  magnitude,  and  already  of 
terrible  importance  to  readers,  that  their  first 
grand  necessity  in  reading  is  to  be  vigilantly, 
conscientiously  select;  and  to  know  everywhere 
that  books,  like  human  souls,  are  actually  divided 
into  what  we  may  call  sheep  and  goats — the  latter 
put  inexorably  on  the  left  hand  of  the  judge,  and 
tending,  every  goat  of  them,  at  all  moments, 
whither  we  know;  and  much  to  be  avoided;  and, 
if  possible,  ignored  by  all  sane  creatures." 


28  Ube  Cboice  of  Boofts 

Ruskin  further  and  more  minutely  marks  the 
same  distinction  by  noting  the  difference  between 
books  of  the  hour  and  books  of  all  time.  ' '  All 
books,"  says  he,  "  are  divisible  into  two  classes, 
the  books  of  the  hour,  and  the  books  of  all  time. 
Mark  this  distinction — it  is  not  one  of  quality 
only.  It  is  not  merely  the  bad  book  that  does  not 
last,  and  the  good  one  that  does.  It  is  a  distinc- 
tion of  species.  There  are  good  books  for  the 
hour,  and  good  books  for  all  time;  bad  books  for 
the  hour,  and  bad  ones  for  all  time.  I  must  de- 
fine the  two  kinds  before  I  go  farther.  The  good 
book  of  the  hour,  then, — I  do  not  speak  of  the  bad 
ones, — is  simply  the  useful  or  pleasant  talk  of 
some  person  whom  you  cannot  otherwise  converse 
with,  printed  for  you.  .  .  .  These  bright  ac- 
counts of  travels;  good-humoured  and  witty  dis- 
cussions of  question;  lively  or  pathetic  story- telling 
in  the  form  of  novel;  firm  fact- telling  by  the  real 
agents  concerned  in  the  events  of  passing  history; 
all  these  books  of  the  hour,  multiplying  among 
us  as  education  becomes  more  general,  are  a  pe- 
culiar characteristic  and  possession  of  the  present 
age;  we  ought  to  be  entirely  thankful  for  them, 
and  entirely  ashamed  of  ourselves  if  we  make  no 
good  use  of  them.     But  we  make  the  worst  possi- 


TRIlbat  Boofts  to  1Rea&  29 

ble  use  if  we  allow  them  to  usurp  the  place  of  true 
books;  for,  strictly  speaking,  they  are  not  books 
at  all,  but  merely  letters  or  newspapers  in  good 
print.  Our  friend's  letter  may  be  delightful,  or 
necessary,  to-day;  whether  worth  keeping  or  not, 
is  to  be  considered.  The  newspaper  may  be  en- 
tirely proper  at  breakfast  time;  but  assuredly  it  is 
not  reading  for  all  day.  So,  though  bound  up  in 
a  volume,  the  long  letter  which  gives  you  so 
pleasant  an  account  of  the  inns,  and  roads,  and 
weather  last  year  at  such  a  place,  or  which  tells 
you  that  amusing  storj',  or  gives  you  the  real  cir- 
cumstances of  such  and  such  events,  however 
valuable  for  occasional  reference,  may  not  be,  in 
the  real  sense  of  the  word,  a  '  book  '  at  all,  nor,  in 
the  real  sense,  to  be  'read.'  A  book  is  essentially 
not  a  talked  thing,  but  a  written  thing;  and  writ- 
ten, not  with  the  view  of  mere  communication, 
but  of  permanence.  The  book  of  talk  is  printed 
only  because  its  author  cannot  speak  to  thousands 
of  people  at  once;  if  he  could,  he  would — the  vol- 
ume is  mere  multiplication  of  his  voice.  You 
cannot  talk  to  your  friend  in  India;  if  you  could, 
you  would;  you  write  instead:  that  is  mere  con- 
veyance of  voice.  But  a  book  is  written,  not  to 
multiply  the  voice  merely,  not  to  carry  it  merely. 


30  Ubc  Cboice  of  Boofts 

but  to  preserve  it.  The  author  has  something  to 
say  which  he  perceives  to  be  true  and  useful,  or 
helpfully  beautiful.  So  far  as  he  knows,  no  one 
has  yet  said  it;  so  far  as  he  knows,  no  one  else 
can  say  it;  he  is  bound  to  say  it,  clearly  and 
melodiously  if  he  may,  clearly,  at  all  events.  In 
the  sum  of  his  life  he  finds  this  to  be  the  thing, 
or  group  of  things,  manifest  to  him;  this  the 
piece  of  true  knowledge,  or  sight,  which  his  share 
of  sunshine  and  earth  has  permitted  him  to  seize. 
He  would  fain  set  it  down  for  ever;  engrave  it  on 
rock,  if  he  could;  saying,  *  This  is  the  best  of  me; 
for  the  rest,  I  ate,  and  drank,  and  slept,  loved, 
and  hated,  like  another;  my  life  was  as  the 
vapour,  and  is  not;  but  this  I  saw  and  knew; 
this,  if  anything  of  mine,  is  worth  your  memory.' 
That  is  his  *  writing ' ;  it  is,  in  his  small  human 
way,  and  with  whatever  degree  of  true  inspira- 
tion is  in  him,  his  inscription,  or  scripture.  That 
is  a  '  Book.'  " 

The  real  value  of  any  book,  to  a  particular 
reader,  is  to  be  measured  by  its  serviceableness  to 
that  reader.  "  My  opinion  's  this,"  says  a  char- 
acter in  a  contemporary  novel:  "  Look,  now, 
these  books,  from  the  lowest  to  the  topmost  shelf, 
row  above  row — you  can  read  'em  all  through, 


Mbat  Boohs  to  1Rea&  31 

and  be  as  stupid  and  even  stupider  after  it  than 
you  were  before.  One  does  n't  grow  wise  from 
books,  but  from  the  life  one  lives. "  "  You  should 
not,"  declares  a  recent  aphorist,  "  read  books  to 
forget  life,  but  to  understand  it  more  fully  and 
enjoy  it  more  keenly."  We  ought  to  get  susten- 
ance, and  not  a  mere  tickling  of  the  intellectual 
palate,  from  "  the  dainties  that  are  bred  in  a 
book." 

"There  is  a  literature  of  knowledge,  and  a 
literature  of  power,"  says  De  Quincey;  and 
knowledge  that  can  never  be  transmuted  into 
power  becomes  mere  intellectual  rubbish.  The 
choice  of  books  would  be  greatly  aided  if  the 
reader,  in  taking  up  a  volume,  would  always  ask 
himself  just  why  he  is  going  to  read  it,  and  of 
what  service  it  is  to  be  to  him.  This  question, 
if  sincerely  put  and  truthfully  answered,  is  pretty 
sure  to  lead  him  to  the  great  books — or  at  least  to 
the  books  that  are  great  for  him. 

Homer,  Plutarch,  and  Plato;  Virgil,  Cicero, 
and  Tacitus;  Dante,  Tasso,  and  Petrarch;  Cer- 
vantes; ^  Kempis;  Goethe;  Chaucer,  Spenser, 
Shakespeare,  Milton,  Bacon,  Sir  Thomas  Browne, 
Bunyan,  Gray,  Scott,  and  Wordsworth;  Haw- 
thorne and  Emerson — he  who  reads  these,  and 


32  Xlbc  Cboice  of  Boofts 

such  as  these,  is  not  in  serious  danger  of  spending 
his  time  amiss.  But  not  even  such  a  list  as  this 
is  to  be  received  as  a  necessity  by  every  reader. 
One  may  find  Cowper  more  profitable  than  Words- 
worth; to  another,  the  reading  of  Longfellow  may 
be  more  advantageous  than  that  of  Emerson; 
while  a  third  may  gain  more  immediate  and  last- 
ing good  from  Kingsley's  Hypatia  than  from  a 
long  and  patient  attempt  to  master  Grote's  His- 
tory of  Greece  or  Gibbon's  Z><?^//«^  and  Fall  of  the 
Romayi  Empire.  Kach  individual  reader  must  try 
to  determine,  first  of  all,  what  is  best  for  himself. 
In  forming  his  decision  let  him  make  the  utmost 
use  of  the  best  guides,  not  forgetting  that  the 
average  opinion  of  educated  men  is  pretty  sure  to 
be  a  correct  opinion;  but  let  him  never  put  aside 
his  own  honesty  and  individuality.  He  must 
choose  his  books  as  he  chooses  his  friends,  be- 
cause of  their  integrity  and  helpfulness,  and 
because  of  the  pleasure  their  society  gives 
him, 

lyists  of  books,  from  Lord  Avebury's  (Sir  John 
Lubbock's)  celebrated  catalogue  of  one  hundred 
to  the  eight  thousand  of  the  American  Library 
Association,  are  of  value,  provided  that  they  are 
used  for  purposes  of  intelligent  selection,  and  are 


Mbat  Koofts  to  1Rea&  33 

not  treated  as  finalities.  It  may  be  doubted 
whether  any  living  person,  including  the  com- 
pilers, has  ever  read  or  ought  to  have  read  a 
single  one  of  these  lists  in  its  entirety.  *  *  To  each 
his  own"  is  a  good  motto  for  the  choice  of  books; 
let  every  reader  choose,  or  be  given,  the  best  book 
for  his  age,  or  need,  or  degree  of  intelligence. 
The  hundred  best  books  for  a  child  are  not  the 
best  for  a  man;  there  must  be  one  choice  for  Bos- 
ton and  another  for  St.  Petersburg.  Again,  some 
books,  great  landmarks  in  the  history  of  literature, 
have  had  their  day  and  done  their  service,  never 
to  be  repeated.  They  may  be  read  about,  but 
need  not  be  read. 

It  is  proper,  then,  to  put  in  the  same  list  (of 
books  for  home  reading  recommended  by  a  con- 
ference on  college  entrance  requirements  in  Eng- 
lish) Herodotus  and  Alice  in  Wonderland,  Sir 
Thomas  Malory's  Morte  Darthur  and  Bayard 
Taylor's  Views  Afoot.  In  most  lists  of  the  sort, 
however,  one  finds  the  influence  of  the  personal 
equation  in  a  dangerous  degree,  as  where  a  cata- 
logue of  ''the  hundred  best  British  books"  in- 
cludes Burnaby's  Ride  to  Khiva  and  I^ear's  Book 
of  Nonsense.  Make  out  your  catalogue  if  you 
choose,  and  then  alter  it,  as  I^ord  Avebury  has 


34  ^be  Cboice  of  Boohs 

done;  but  do  not  pretend  to  call  it  final  or  uni- 
versal. 

Says  James  Russell  I^owell  concerning  this  gen- 
eral topic:  "One  is  sometimes  asked  by  young 
people  to  recommend  a  course  of  reading.  My 
advice  would  be  that  they  should  confine  them- 
selves to  the  supreme  books  in  whatever  literature, 
or,  still  better,  choose  some  one  great  author,  and 
make  themselves  thoroughly  familiar  with  him. 
For,  as  all  roads  lead  to  Rome,  so  do  they  like- 
wise lead  away  from  it;  and  you  will  find  that,  in 
order  to  understand  perfectly  and  weigh  exactly 
any  vital  piece  of  literature,  you  will  be  gradually 
and  pleasantly  persuaded  to  excursions  and  ex- 
plorations of  which  you  little  dreamed  when  you 
began,  and  you  will  find  yourselves  scholars  be- 
fore you  are  aware." 

Andrew  Lang  is  more  impatient,  and  exclaims, 
in  his  Adveiitures  Among  Books:  "Young  men, 
especially  in  iVmerica,  write  to  me  and  ask  me  to 
recommend  a  course  of  reading!  Distrust  a 
course  of  reading!  People  who  really  care  for 
books  read  all  of  them.  There  is  no  other  course. 
Let  this  be  a  reply.  No  other  answer  shall  they 
get  trom  me,  the  inquiring  young  men." 

Mr.  Matthew  Arnold,  not  all  of  whose  advice 


XlClbat  3Boofts  to  tRcab  35 

is  to  be  implicitly  received,  well  emphasises  the 
necessity  of  reading  with  one's  highest  aims  in  I 
view,  when  he  says:  "  The  poor  require  culture 
as  much  as  the  rich;  and  at  present  their  educa- 
tion, even  when  they  get  education,  gives  them 
hardly  anything  of  it;  yet  hardly  less  of  it,  per- 
haps, than  the  education  of  the  rich  gives  to  the 
rich.  For  when  we  say  that  culture  is.  To  know 
the  best  that  has  been  thought  and  said  to  the 
world,  we  imply  that,  for  culture,  a  system 
directly  tending  to  this  end  is  necessary  in  our 
reading.  Now  there  is  no  such  system  yet  pre- 
sent to  guide  the  reading  of  the  rich,  any  more 
than  of  the  poor.  Such  a  system  is  hardly  even 
thought  of ;  a  man  who  wants  it  must  make  it  for 
himself.  And  our  reading  being  so  without  pur- 
pose as  it  is,  nothing  can  be  truer  than  what 
Butler  says,  that  really,  in  general,  no  part  of  our 
time  is  more  idly  spent  than  the  time  spent  in 
reading.  Still,  culture  is  indispensably  necessary, 
and  culture  implies  reading;  but  reading  with  a 
purpose  to  guide  it,  and  with  system.  He  does 
a  good  work  who  does  anything  to  help  this;  in- 
deed, it  is  the  one  essential  service  now  to  be  ren- 
dered to  education.  And  the  plea  that  this  or 
that  man  has  no  time  for  culture  will  vanish  as 


36  Ube  Cboice  of  Boofts 

soon  as  we  desire  culture  so  much  that  we  begin 
to  examine  seriously  our  present  use  of  our  time." 
"  Every  book  that  we  take  up  without  a  pur- 
pose," says  Mr.  Frederick  Harrison,  "is  an  op- 
portunity lost  of  taking  up  a  book  with  a  purpose; 
every  bit  of  stray  information  which  we  cram  into 
our  heads,  without  any  sense  of  its  importance,  is 
for  the  most  part  a  bit  of  the  most  useful  informa- 
tion driven  out  of  our  heads  and  choked  off  from 
our  minds.  It  is  so  certain  that  information,  that 
is,  the  knowledge,  the  stored  thoughts  and  observ- 
ations of  mankind,  is  now  grown  to  proportions 
so  utterly  incalculable  and  prodigious,  that  even 
the  learned  whose  lives  are  given  to  study  can 
but  pick  up  some  crumbs  that  fall  from  the  table 
of  truth.  They  delve  and  tend  but  a  plot  in  that 
vast  and  teeming  kingdom,  whilst  those  whom 
active  life  leaves  with  but  a  few  cramped  hours  of 
study  can  hardly  come  to  know  the  very  vastness 
of  the  field  before  them,  or  how  infinitesimally 
small  is  the  comer  they  can  traverse  at  the  best. 
We  know  all  is  not  of  equal  value.  We  know 
that  books  differ  in  value  as  much  as  diamonds 
differ  from  the  sand  on  the  seashore,  as  much  as 
our  living  friend  differs  from  a  dead  rat.  We 
know  that  much  in  the  myriad-peopled  world  of 


Mbat  Koofts  to  lRea&  37 

books — very  much  in  all  kinds — is  trivial,  enerv- 
ating, inane,  even  noxious.  And  thus,  where 
we  have  infinite  opportunities  of  wasting  our 
eflforts  to  no  end,  of  fatiguing  our  minds  without 
enriching  them,  of  clogging  the  spirit  without 
satisfying  it,  there,  I  cannot  but  think,  the  very 
infinity  of  opportunities  is  robbing  us  of  the  actual 
power  of  using  them.  And  thus  I  come  often,  in 
my  less  hopeful  moods,  to  watch  the  remorseless 
cataract  of  daily  literature  which  thunders  over 
the  remnants  of  the  past,  as  if  it  were  a  fresh  im- 
pediment to  the  men  of  our  day  in  the  way  of 
systematic  knowledge  and  consistent  powers  of 
thought;  as  if  it  were  destined  one  day  to  over- 
whelm the  great  inheritance  of  mankind  in  prose 
and  verse." 

A  reader  who  is  ever  seeking  for  a  book  that 
shall  not  only  be  helpful  in  some  sense,  but  help- 
ful in  a  high  sense,  is  not  likely  to  waste  his  time 
over  that  which  is  merely  respectable  instead  of 
that  which  is  really  great.  "  I  am  not  pre- 
sumptuous enough,"  says  Mr.  Harrison  further, 
"  to  assert  that  the  larger  part  of  modem  litera- 
ture is  not  worth  reading  in  itself,  that  the  prose 
is  not  readable,  entertaining,  one  may  say  highly 
instructive.      Nor  do  I  pretend  that  the  verses 


38  Ube  Cboice  of  JBoofts 

which  we  read  so  zealously  in  place  of  Milton's 
are  not  good  verses.  On  the  contrary,  I  think 
them  sweetly  conceived,  as  musical  and  as  grace- 
ful as  the  verse  of  any  age  in  our  history.  I  say 
it  emphatically,  a  great  deal  of  our  modern  litera- 
ture is  such  that  it  is  exceedingly  diflScult  to  re- 
sist it,  and  it  is  undeniable  that  it  gives  us  real 
information.  It  seems  perhaps  unreasonable  to 
many  to  assert  that  a  decent,  readable  book,  which 
gives  us  actual  instruction,  can  be  otherwise  than 
a  useful  companion,  and  a  solid  gain.  I  dare  say 
many  people  are  ready  to  cry  out  upon  me  as  an 
obscurantist  for  venturing  to  doubt  a  genial  con- 
fidence in  all  literature  simply  as  such.  But  the 
question  which  weighs  upon  me  with  such  really 
crushing  urgency  is  this:  What  are  the  books 
that  in  our  little  remnant  of  reading  time  it  is 
most  vital  for  us  to  know  ?  For  the  true  use  of 
books  is  of  such  sacred  value  to  us  that  to  be 
simply  entertained  is  to  cease  to  be  taught,  ele- 
vated, inspired  by  books;  merely  to  gather  in- 
formation of  a  chance  kind  is  to  close  the  mind 
to  knowledge  of  the  urgent  kind." 

This  union  of  freedom  with  authority — of  a 
choice  for  one's  self  and  a  willingness  to  believe 
that  the  world  is  right  in  setting  Shakespeare 


Mbat  JBoofts  to  1Rea&  39 

above  the  author  of  the  latest  "  boom-book" — is, 
I  believe,  the  true  and  the  only  guide  in  the  selec- 
tion of  books  to  read.     In  the  long  run,  nothing  ^ 
but  truth,  simplicity,  purity,  and  a  lofty  purpose  ; 
approves  a  book  to  the  favour  of  the  ages;  and  / 
nothing  else  ought  to  approve  it  to  the  individual ' 
reader.     Thus  the  end  is  reached  and  the  choice 
is  made,  not  by  taking  a  book  because  a  '  *  course 
of  reading ' '  commands  you  to  do  so,  but  because 
you  come  to  see  for  yourself  the  wisdom  of  the 
selection.     The  pure  and  wholesome  heart  of  hu- 
manity— that  thing  which  we  call  conscience — is 
the  guide  of  readers  as  it  is  of  every  other  class 
of  workers  in  life. 

In  this  connection  it  should  be  strongly  empha- 
sised that  nothing  is  so  fatal  to  sound  habits  of 
reading  as  the  loss  of  hearty  enthusiasm,  and  the 
substitution  therefor  of  artificiality  and  dilettante- 
ism.  I  cannot  better  put  the  wide  applicability 
of  this  truth,  in  matters  of  literature,  than  by 
making  another  quotation  from  Mr.  Harrison, 
who  is  in  some  ways  one  of  the  wisest  and  most 
helpful  of  recent  literary  counsellors.  In  the 
passages  I  have  chosen  will  be  found  wholesome 
suggestions  on  other  topics  connected  with  the 
general  subject  of  reading, —  a  subject  which  is 


40  Ube  Cbotce  of  Boohs 

ever  branching  out  in  new  directions  on  this  side 
and  on  that.  "  I  have  no  intention,"  says  Mr. 
Harrison,  "  to  moralise  or  to  indulge  in  a  homily 
against  the  reading  of  what  is  deliberately  evil. 
There  is  not  so  much  need  for  this  now,  and  I 
am  not  discoursing  on  the  whole  duty  of  man.  I 
take  that  part  of  our  reading  which  is  by  itself  no 
doubt  harmless,  entertaining,  and  even  gently  in- 
structive. But  of  this  enormous  mass  of  litera- 
ture how  much  deserves  to  be  chosen  out,  to  be 
preferred  to  all  the  great  books  of  the  world,  to 
be  set  apart  for  those  precious  hours  which  are 
all  that  the  most  of  us  can  give  to  solid  reading  ? 
The  vast  proportion  of  books  are  books  that  we 
shall  never  be  able  to  read.  A  serious  percentage 
of  books  are  not  worth  reading  at  all.  The  really 
vital  books  for  us  we  also  know  to  be  a  very 
trifling  portion  of  the  whole.  And  yet  we  act  as 
if  every  book  were  as  good  as  any  other,  as  if  it 
were  merely  a  question  of  order  which  we  take 
up  first,  as  if  any  book  were  good  enough  for  us, 
and  as  if  all  were  alike  honourable,  precious,  and 
satisfying.  Alas!  books  cannot  be  more  than  the 
men  who  write  them,  and  as  a  large  proportion 
of  the  human  race  now  write  books,  with  motives 
and  objects  as  various  as  human  activity,  books  as 


TKIlbat  Boof^s  to  IReaD  41 

books  are  entitled  a  priori,  until  their  value  is 
proved,  to  the  same  attention  and  respect  as 
houses,  steam-engines,  pictures,  fiddles,  bonnets, 
and  other  thoughtful  or  ornamental  products  of 
human  industry.  In  the  shelves  of  those  libraries 
which  are  our  pride,  libraries  public  or  private, 
circulating  or  very  stationary,  are  to  be  found 
those  great  books  of  the  world,  *  rari  nantes  in 
gurgite  vasto, '  those  books  which  are  truly  *  the 
precious  life-blood  of  a  master  spirit.'  But  the 
very  familiarity  which  their  mighty  fame  has 
bred  in  us  makes  us  indifferent;  we  grow  weary 
of  what  every  one  is  supposed  to  have  read,  and 
we  take  down  something  which  looks  a  little  ec- 
centric, or  some  author  on  the  mere  ground  that 
we  never  heard  of  him  before.  .  ,  .  How 
does  the  trivial,  provided  it  is  the  new,  that  which 
stares  at  us  in  the  advertising  columns  of  the  day, 
crowd  out  the  immortal  poetry  and  pathos  of  the 
human  race,  vitiating  our  taste  for  those  exquisite 
pieces  which  are  a  household  word,  and  weaken- 
ing our  mental  relish  for  the  eternal  works  of 
genius!  Old  Homer  is  the  very  fountain-head  of 
pure  poetic  enjoyment,  of  all  that  is  spontaneous, 
simple,  native,  and  dignified  in  life.  He  takes  us 
into  the  ambrosial  world  of  heroes,  of  human 


42  Ube  Cbotce  of  Boofts 

vigour,  of  purity,  of  grace.  Now  Homer  is  one 
of  the  few  poets  the  life  of  whom  can  be  fairly 
preserved  in  a  translation.  Most  men  and  women 
can  say  that  they  have  read  Homer,  just  as  most 
of  us  can  say  that  we  have  studied  Johnson's 
Dictionary.  But  how  few  of  us  take  him  up, 
time  after  time,  with  fresh  delight!  How  few 
have  ever  read  the  entire  Iliad  and  Odyssey 
through!  Whether  in  the  resounding  lines  of 
the  old  Greek,  as  fresh  and  ever-stirring  as  the 
waves  that  tumble  on  the  seashore,  filling  the 
soul  with  satisfying,  silent  wonder  at  its  restless 
unison;  whether  in  the  quaint  lines  of  Chapman, 
or  the  clarion  couplets  of  Pope,  or  the  closer  ver- 
sions of  Cowper,  Lord  Derby,  or  Philip  Worsley, 
or  even  in  the  new  prose  version  of  the  Odyssey, 
Homer  is  always  fresh  and  rich.  And  yet  how 
seldom  does  one  find  a  friend  spellbound  over  the 
Greek  Bible  [Homer]  of  antiquity,  while  they 
wade  through  torrents  of  magazine  quotations 
from  a  petty  versifier  of  to-day,  and  in  an  idle 
vacation  will  graze,  as  contentedly  as  cattle  in  a 
fresh  meadow,  through  the  chopped  straw  of  a 
circulating  library.  A  generation  which  will 
listen  to  Pinafore  for  three  hundred  nights,  and 
will  read  M.  Zola's  seventeenth  romance,  can  no 


XRIlbat  JSoohs  to  lRca&  43 

more  read  Homer  than  it  could  read  a  cuneiform 
inscription.  It  will  read  about  Homer  just  as  it 
will  read  about  a  cuneiform  inscription,  and  will 
crowd  to  see  a  few  pots  which  probably  came 
from  the  neighbourhood  of  Troy.  But  to  Homer 
and  the  primeval  type  of  heroic  man  in  his  beauty, 
and  his  simpleness,  and  joj^ousness,  the  cultured 
generation  is  really  dead,  as  completely  as  some 
spoiled  beauty  of  the  ballroom  is  dead  to  the 
bloom  of  the  heather  or  the  waving  of  the  daffo- 
dils in  a  glade.  It  is  a  true  psychological  problem, 
this  nausea  which  idle  culture  seems  to  produce 
for  all  that  is  manly  and  pure  in  heroic  poetry. 
One  knows — at  least  every  schoolboy  has  known 
— that  a  passage  of  Homer,  rolling  along  in  the 
hexameter  or  trumpeted  out  by  Pope,  will  give  one 
a  hot  glow  of  pleasure  and  raise  a  finer  throb  in 
the  pulse;  one  knows  that  Homer  is  the  easiest, 
most  artless,  most  diverting  of  all  poets;  that  the 
fiftieth  reading  rouses  the  spirit  even  more  than 
the  first — and  yet  we  find  ourselves  (we  are  all 
alike)  painfully  psha-ing  over  some  new  and  un- 
cut barley-sugar  in  rhyme,  which  a  man  in  the 
street  asked  us  if  we  had  read;  or  it  may  be  some 
learned  lucubration  about  the  site  of  Troy,  by 
some  one  we  chanced  to  meet  at  dinner.     It  is  an 


44  XCbe  Cboice  of  3Boofts 

unwritten  chapter  in  the  history  of  the  human 
mind,  how  this  literary  prurience  after  new  print 
unmans  us  for  the  enjoyment  of  the  old  songs 
chanted  forth  in  the  sunrise  of  human  imagina- 
tion. To  ask  a  man  or  woman  who  spends  half  a 
lifetime  in  sucking  magazines  and  new  poems,  to 
read  a  book  of  Homer,  would  be  like  asking  a 
butcher's  boy  to  whistle  Adelaida.  The  noises 
and  sights  and  talk,  the  whirl  and  volatility  of 
life  around  us,  are  too  strong  for  us,  A  society 
which  is  for  ever  gossiping  in  a  sort  of  perpetual 
'  drum'  loses  the  very  faculty  of  caring  for  any- 
thing but  '  early  copies '  and  the  last  tale  out. 
Thus,  like  the  tares  in  the  noble  parable  of  the 
Sower,  a  perpetual  chatter  about  books  chokes 
the  seed  which  is  sown  in  the  greatest  books  in 
the  world.  I  speak  of  Homer,  but  fifty  other 
great  poets  and  creators  of  eternal  beauty  would 
serve  my  argument  as  well." 

Has  it  not  been  made  clear,  in  the  words  of 
thoughtful  counsellors  by  which,  in  this  chapter, 
I  have  sought  to  strengthen  and  make  plain  my 
own  sincerest  convictions  concerning  the  proper 
selection  of  books,  that  the  reader  must  always 
search  for — 

Books  that  are  wholesome; 


Mbat  JSoohs  to  lRea5  45 

Books  that  are  helpful  to  him  personally; — 
and  that  if,  by  following  these  rules,  he  does  not 
find  that  his  choice   usually   falls  upon   books 
which  the  greatest  minds  call  great,  the  fault  is 
more  likely  to  be  in  himself  than  in  them  ? 


THE  BEST  TIME  TO   READ 

IN  the  choice  of  time  for  reading,  as  in  that  of 
books  to  read,  large  liberty  must  be  given  to 
individual  needs  and  habits.  There  is  no 
hour  of  the  twentj^-four  which  may  not,  under 
certain  circumstances,  be  profitably  spent  with 
books.  In  the  lonely  watches  of  a  sleepless  night, 
the  precious  hours  of  early  morning,  the  busy 
forenoon,  the  leisurely  afternoon,  or  the  long 
winter  evenings — whenever  the  time  and  inclina- 
tion come,  then  is  your  time  for  reading.  If  the 
inclination  does  not  come  with  the  time,  if  the 
mind  is  weary  and  the  attention  hard  to  fix,  then 
it  is  better  to  lose  that  special  time  so  far  as  read- 
ing is  concerned,  and  to  take  up  something  else. 
A  much  shorter  period  chosen  under  more  fav- 
ourable circumstances — if  it  is  only  five  min- 
utes in  a  busy  day — will  more  than  make  up  the 
loss. 

Everybody  has  some  time  to  read,   however 
much  he  may  have  to  do.     Many  a  woman  has 
read  to  excellent  purpose  while  mixing  bread,  or 
46 


Ube  Best  Xlime  to  tRcat>  47 

waiting  for  the  meat  to  brown,  or  tending  the 
baby, — simply  by  reading  a  sentence  when  she 
could.  Men  have  become  well-read  at  the  black- 
smith's forge,  or  the  printer's  case,  or  behind  the 
counter.  No  time  is  too  short,  and  no  occupation 
too  mean,  to  be  made  to  pay  tribute  to  a  real  de- 
sire for  knowledge.  I  know  of  a  woman  who 
read  Paradise  Lost,  and  two  or  three  other  stand- 
ard works,  aloud  to  her  husband  in  a  single 
winter,  while  he  was  shaving,  that  being  the  only 
available  time,  "  Whilst  you  stand  deliberating 
which  book  your  son  shall  read  first,  another 
boy  has  read  both;  read  anything  five  hours  a 
day,  and  you  will  soon  be  learned,"  said  Dr. 
Johnson.  Five  hours  a  day  is  a  large  amount  of 
time,  but  five  minutes  a  day,  spent  over  good 
books,  will  give  a  man  a  great  deal  of  knowledge 
worth  having,  before  a  year  is  out.  It  is  the 
time  thus  spent  that  counts  for  more,  to  one's 
intellectual  self,  than  all  the  rest  of  the  day  occu- 
pied in  mere  manual  labour.  "  There  is  nothing 
in  the  recollections  of  my  childhood,"  says  Mary 
C.  Ware,  a  wholesome  old-time  educator,  "  that 
I  look  back  to  with  so  much  pleasure  as  reading 
aloud  my  books  to  my  mother.  She  was  then  a  wo- 
man of  many  cares,  and  in  the  habit  of  engaging 


48  XTbe  Cboice  of  JSoofts 

in  every  variety  of  household  work.  Whatever 
she  might  be  doing  in  kitchen,  or  dairy,  or  par- 
lour she  was  always  ready  to  listen  to  me,  and  to 
explain  whatever  I  did  not  understand.  There 
was  always  with  her  an  undercurrent  of  thought 
about  other  things,  mingling  with  all  her  domestic 
duties,  lightening  and  modifying  them,  but  never 
leading  her  to  neglect  them,  or  to  perform  them 
imperfectly.  I  believe  it  is  to  this  trait  of  her 
character  that  she  owes  the  elasticity  and  ready 
social  sympathy  that  still  animates  her  under  the 
weight  of  almost  fourscore  years." 

Half  an  hour  a  day  is  John  Morley's  easy  mini- 
mum: "  It  requires  no  preterhuman  force  of  will 
in  any  young  man  or  woman — unless  household 
circumstances  are  unusually  vexatious  and  un- 
favourable— to  get  at  least  half  an  hour  out  of  a 
solid  busy  day  for  good  and  disinterested  reading. 
Some  will  say  that  this  is  too  much  to  expect, 
and  the  first  persons  to  say  it,  I  venture  to  pre- 
dict, will  be  those  who  waste  their  time  most. 
At  any  rate,  if  I  cannot  get  half  an  hour,  I  will 
be  content  with  a  quarter.  Now,  in  half  an  hour 
I  fancy  you  can  read  fifteen  or  twenty  pages  of 
Burke;  or  you  can  read  one  of  Wordsworth's 
masterpieces — say  the  lines  on  Tintern;  or,  say. 


Ube  JSest  Utme  to  IReab  49 

one  third — if  a  scholar,  in  the  original,  and  if  not, 
in  a  translation — of  a  book  of  the  Iliad  or  the 
y^neid.  I  am  not  filling  the  half-hour  too  full. 
But  try  for  yourselves  what  you  can  read  in  half 
an  hour.  Then  multiply  the  half-hour  by  365, 
and  consider  what  treasures  you  might  have  laid 
by  at  the  end  of  the  year;  and  what  happiness, 
fortitude,  and  wisdom  they  would  have  given  you 
for  a  lifetime." 

There  is  a  need  of  a  constant  mental  economy 
in  the  choice  of  time  for  reading,  be  it  much  or 
little.  "  It  is  true,"  says  Philip  Gilbert  Hamer- 
ton,  "  that  the  most  absolute  master  of  his  own 
hours  still  needs  thrift  if  he  would  turn  them  to 
account,  and  that  too  many  never  learn  this  thrift, 
whilst  others  learn  it  late. ' '  Nor  is  it  only  those 
whose  pursuits  are  not  distinctly  literary  who  fail 
to  make  the  best  use  of  the  passing  hours.  ' '  Few 
intellectual  men,"  says  Mr.  Hamerton,  "  have 
the  art  of  economising  the  hours  of  study.  The 
very  necessity,  which  every  one  acknowledges, 
of  giving  vast  portions  of  life  to  attain  proficiency 
in  anything,  makes  us  prodigal  where  we  ought 
to  be  parsimonious,  and  careless  where  we  have 
need  of  unceasing  vigilance.  The  best  time- 
savers  are  a  love  of  soundness  in  all  we  learn  or 
4 


so  Ube  Cboice  of  3Boofts 

do,  and  a  cheerful  acceptance  of  inevitable  limita- 
tions. There  is  a  certain  point  of  proficiency  at 
which  an  acquisition  begins  to  be  of  use,  and  un- 
less we  have  the  time  and  resolution  necessary  to 
reach  that  point,  our  labour  is  as  completely 
thrown  away  as  that  of  the  mechanic  who  began  to 
make  an  engine  but  never  finished  it.  Each  of 
us  has  acquisitions  which  remain  permanently  un- 
available from  their  unsoundness:  a  language  or 
two  that  we  can  neither  speak  nor  write,  a  science 
of  which  the  elements  have  not  been  mastered, 
an  art  which  we  cannot  practise  with  satisfaction 
either  to  others  or  to  ourselves.  Now  the  time 
spent  on  these  unsound  accomplishments  has  been 
in  great  measure  wasted;  not  quite  absolutely 
wasted,  since  the  mere  labour  of  trying  to  learn 
has  been  a  discipline  for  the  mind,  but  wasted  so 
far  as  the  accomplishments  themselves  are  con- 
cerned. And  this  mental  discipline,  on  which  so 
much  stress  is  laid  by  those  whose  interest  it  is 
to  encourage  unsound  accomplishments,  might 
be  obtained  more  perfectly  if  the  subjects  of  study 
were  less  numerous  and  more  thoroughly  under- 
stood." 

We  are  not  to  understand  from  this  that  nothing 
is  to  be  studied  with  which  we  do  not  intend  to 


Ube  3Best  Zimc  to  IReaD  51 

become  profoundly  acquainted,  for  much  know- 
ledge must  of  necessity  be  fragmentary  and  incom- 
plete. The  adviser  is  merely  warning  us  against 
purposeless  intellectual  trifling. 

The  Germans,  who  certainly  have  great  results 
to  show  for  the  time  they  spend  in  reading  and 
other  intellectual  pursuits,  may  profitably  teach 
us  two  lessons  concerning  the  best  time  to  read: 
that  brain-work  should  be  steady  and  uninter- 
rupted while  it  lasts,  and  that  it  should  be  varied 
by  periods  of  rest  and  changed  employment. 
* '  In  the  charming  and  precious  letters  of  Victor 
Jacquemont,"  says  Hamerton,  "a  man  whose  life 
was  dedicated  to  culture,  and  who  not  only  lived 
for  it,  but  died  for  it,  there  is  a  passage  about  the 
intellectual  labours  of  Germans,  which  takes  due 
account  of  the  expenditure  of  time."  Jacque- 
mont's  letter  runs  as  follows:  "  Being  astonished 
at  the  prodigious  variety  and  at  the  extent  of 
knowledge  possessed  by  the  Germans,  I  begged 
one  of  my  friends,  Saxon  by  birth,  and  one  of  the 
foremost  geologists  in  Europe,  to  tell  me  how  his 
countrymen  managed  to  know  so  many  things. 
Here  is  his  answer,  nearly  in  his  own  words:  *A 
German  (except  myself,  who  am  the  idlest  of 
men)  gets  up  early,  summer  and  winter,  at  about 


52  Ube  Cboice  ot  Boofts 

five  o'clock.  He  works  four  hours  before  break- 
fast, sometimes  smoking  all  the  time,  which  does 
not  interfere  with  his  application.  His  breakfast 
lasts  about  half  an  hour,  and  he  remains,  after- 
wards, another  half-hour  talking  with  his  wife 
and  playing  with  his  children.  He  returns  to  his 
work  for  six  hours,  dines  without  hurrying  him- 
self, smokes  an  hour  after  dinner,  playing  again 
with  his  children,  and  before  he  goes  to  bed  he 
works  four  hours  more.  He  begins  again  every 
day,  and  never  goes  out.  This  is  how  it  comes  to 
pass  that  Oersted,  the  greatest  natural  philosopher 
in  Germany,  is  at  the  same  time  the  greatest 
physician;  this  is  how  Kant,  the  metaphysician, 
was  one  of  the  most  learned  astronomers  in 
Europe;  and  how  Goethe,  who  is  at  present  the 
first  and  most  fertile  author  in  Germany  in  almost 
all  kinds  of  literature,  is  an  excellent  botanist, 
mineralogist,  and  natural  philosopher.'  " 

This  persistency  of  the  German  character  evokes 
grand  results  even  from  dull  brains,  which  one 
would  think  were  steeped  in  beer  and  shrivelled 
by  excessive  smoking.  The  advantages  of  per- 
sistency and  a  "  change  of  works,"  in  the  choice 
of  time  for  brain  labour,  Mr.  Hamerton  thus 
further  presses:     "The    encouraging    inference 


Zbc  JSest  Xlime  to  IReaD  53 

which  you  may  draw  from  this  in  reference  to 
your  own  case  is  that,  since  all  intellectual  men 
have  had  more  than  one  pursuit,  you  may  set  ofif 
your  business  against  the  most  absorbing  of  their 
pursuits,  and  for  the  rest  be  still  almost  as  rich  in 
time  as  they  have  been.  You  may  study  litera- 
ture as  some  painters  have  studied  it,  or  science 
as  some  literary  men  have  studied  it.  The  first 
step  is  to  establish  a  regulated  economy  of  your 
time,  so  that,  without  interfering  with  a  due  at- 
tention to  business  and  to  health,  you  may  get 
two  clear  hours  every  day  for  reading  of  the  best 
kind.  It  is  not  much;  some  men  would  tell  you 
it  is  not  enough;  but  I  purposelj'  fix  the  expendi- 
ture of  time  at  a  low  figure  because  I  want  it  to 
be  always  practicable,  consistently  with  all  the 
duties  and  necessary  pleasures  of  your  life.  If  I 
told  you  to  read  four  hours  every  day,  I  know 
beforehand  what  would  be  the  consequence.  You 
would  keep  the  rule  for  three  or  four  days,  by  an 
effort,  then  some  engagement  would  occur  to 
break  it,  and  you  would  have  no  rule  at  all. 
And  please  observe  that  the  two  hours  are  to  be 
given  quite  regularly,  because,  when  the  time 
given  is  not  much,  regularity  is  quite  essential. 
Two  hours  a  day,  regularly,  make  more  than 


54  tTbe  Cboice  of  Boofts 

seven  hundred  hours  in  a  year,  and  in  seven 
hundred  hours,  wisely  and  uninterruptedly  occu- 
pied, much  may  be  done  in  anything.  Permit  me 
to  insist  upon  that  word  uninterruptedly.  Few 
people  realise  the  full  evil  of  an  interruption,  few 
people  know  all  that  is  implied  by  it." 

Thus  to  avoid  interruption  we  may  properly 
separate  ourselves  at  times  from  the  society  of  our 
ordinary  companions  at  home  or  abroad,  when 
such  separation  is  essential  to  sound  reading  and 
thinking.  I  do  not  mean  that  this  separation 
should  be  carried,  as  it  too  often  is,  to  the  extent 
of  positive  discourtesy  and  selfishness.  Some- 
times the  best  possible  hour  for  reading  is  that 
spent  over  books  with  husband  or  w^ife  or  friend. 
But  as  between  time  well  spent  with  books,  and 
time  foolishly  spent  in  "society,"  there  can  be  no 
doubt  as  to  the  proper  choice.  Readers  must 
give  up  something,  and  that  something  often 
proves  to  be  an  undue  devotion  to  the  customs 
and  rules  of  fashionable  social  intercourse,  than 
which  there  is  no  more  formidable  foe  to  the 
reading  habit. 

"There  is  a  degree  of  incompatibility,"  Mr. 
Hamerton  says  further,  "  between  the  fashionable 
and  the  intellectual  lives,  which  makes  it  neces- 


XTbe  Best  XTime  to  IReaO  55 

sary,  at  a  certain  time,  to  choose  one  or  the  other 
as  our  own.  There  is  no  hostility,  there  need  not 
be  any  uncharitable  feeling  on  one  side  or  the 
other,  but  there  must  be  a  resolute  choice  between 
the  two.  If  you  decide  for  the  intellectual  life, 
you  will  incur  a  definite  loss  to  set  against  your 
gain.  Your  existence  may  have  calmer  and  pro- 
founder  satisfactions,  but  it  will  be  less  amusing, 
and  even  in  an  appreciable  degree  less  human; 
less  in  harmony,  I  mean,  with  the  common  in- 
stincts and  feelings  of  humanity.  For  the  fash- 
ionable world,  although  decorated  by  habits  of 
expense,  has  enjoyment  for  its  object,  and  arrives 
at  enjoyment  by  those  methods  which  the  experi- 
ence of  generations  has  proved  most  efficacious. 
Variety  of  amusement,  frequent  change  of  scenery 
and  society,  healthy  exercise,  pleasant  occupation 
of  the  mind  without  fatigue — these  things  do  in- 
deed make  existence  agreeable  to  human  nature, 
and  the  science  of  living  agreeably  is  better 
understood  in  the  fashionable  society  of  England 
than  by  laborious  students  and  savants.  The 
life  led  by  that  society  is  the  true  heaven  of  the 
natural  man,  who  likes  to  have  frequent  feasts 
and  a  hearty  appetite,  who  enjoys  the  varying 
spectacle  of  wealth,  and  splendour,  and  pleasure. 


56  Ubc  Cbolce  ot  3Boohs 

who  loves  to  watch,  from  the  Olympus  of  his  per- 
sonal ease,  the  curious  results  of  labour  in  which 
he  takes  no  part,  the  interesting  ingenuity  of  the 
toiling  world  below.  In  exchange  for  these  varied 
pleasures  of  the  spectator,  the  intellectual  life  can 
offer  you  but  one  satisfaction;  for  all  its  promises 
are  reducible  simply  to  this,  that  you  shall  come 
at  last,  after  infinite  labour,  into  contact  with 
some  great  reality,  that  you  shall  know  and  do 
in  such  sort  that  you  will  feel  yourself  on  firm 
ground  and  be  recognised — probably  not  much 
applauded,  but  yet  recognised  —  as  a  fellow- 
labourer  by  other  knowers  and  doers.  Before 
you  come  to  this,  most  of  your  present  accom- 
plishments will  be  abandoned  by  yourself  as  un- 
satisfactory and  insufficient,  but  one  or  two  of 
them  will  be  turned  to  better  account,  and  will 
give  you  after  many  years  a  tranquil  self-respect, 
and,  what  is  still  rarer  and  better,  a  very  deep 
and  earnest  reverence  for  the  greatness  which 
is  above  you.  Severed  from  the  vanities  of  the 
illusory,  you  will  live  with  the  realities  of  know- 
ledge, as  one  who  has  quitted  the  painted  scenery 
of  the  theatre  to  listen  by  the  eternal  ocean  or 
gaze  at  the  granite  hills." 

From  all  that  has  been  said,  the  reader  has 


Ube  JSest  XTime  to  IReat)  57 

seen  how  closely  the  best  choice  of  time  for  read- 
ing is  connected  with  the  best  use  of  that  time. 
If  we  devote  to  books  the  hours  or  the  minutes 
we  can  catch,  and  choose  our  reading  with  a  full 
sense  of  the  wideness  of  the  field  of  selection  and 
the  narrowness  of  the  time  in  which  we  can  work 
in  that  field,  we  shall  hardly  go  astray  in  our 
decision. 


HOW   MUCH  TO  READ 

THE  amount  which  it  is  advisable  for  one 
to  read  can  no  more  be  settled  off-hand, 
in  a  general  way,  than  the  quantity  of  his 
food  or  the  proper  limit  of  his  physical  exercise. 
Tastes,  necessities,  and  opportunities  differ;  some 
persons  can  undoubtedly  read  very  much  faster 
than  others,  and  yet  get  as  much  profit  from  their 
reading.  And  it  is  hardly  necessary  to  say  that 
a  novel  is  "quicker  reading"  than  a  history  of 
Greece;  or  that  a  clever  bit  of  vers  de  sociiti  need 
not  occupy  the  mind  so  long  as  a  passage  of  equal 
length  from  Milton  or  Homer.  Then,  again,  a 
clear  and  luminous  writer  does  not  delay  the 
reader  as  does  an  obscure  and  artificial  one. 

In  general  terms,  one  has  passed  the  proper 
limit  of  reading  when  he  reads  without  suitable 
apprehension,  and  understanding,  and  promise 
of  retention  in  memory,  of  the  page  before  him, 
whether  it  be  novel  or  history,  humorous  poem 
or  didactic  verse.  "  Reading  with  me  incites  to 
reflection  instantly,"  says  Henry  Ward  Beecher; 
58 


Ibow  /IDucb  to  IReaD  59 

"  I  cannot  separate  the  origination  of  ideas  from 
the  reception  of  ideas;  the  consequence  is,  as  I 
read  I  always  begin  to  think  in  various  directions, 
and  that  makes  my  reading  slow."  Emerson  ad- 
vised the  closing  of  any  book  as  soon  as  it  ceased 
to  move  the  reader's  mind.  Dugald  Stewart  thus 
emphasises  this  duty  of  thoughtfulness  in  read- 
ing: "  Nothing,  in  truth,  has  such  a  tendency  to 
weaken,  not  only  the  powers  of  invention,  but  the 
intellectual  powers  in  general,  as  a  habit  of  ex- 
tensive and  various  reading  without  reflection. 
The  activity  and  force  of  the  mind  are  gradually 
impaired  in  consequence  of  disuse;  and,  not  un- 
frequently,  all  our  principles  and  opinions  come 
to  be  lost  in  the  infinite  multiplicity  and  discord- 
ancy of  our  acquired  ideas." 

John  Locke  tells  us,  in  homely  but  sensible 
phrase,  that  **  Those  who  have  read  everything 
are  thought  to  understand  everything  too;  but  it 
is  not  always  so.  Reading  furnishes  the  mind 
only  with  the  materials  of  knowledge;  it  is  think- 
ing that  makes  what  we  read  ours.  We  are  of 
the  ruminating  kind,  and  it  is  not  enough  to  cram 
ourselves  with  a  great  load  of  collections:  unless 
we  chew  them  over  again,  they  will  not  give  us 
strength  and  nourishment."      W.  P.  Atkinson, 


6o  Xibe  Cbotcc  of  JBoohs 

formerly  professor  in  the  Massachusetts  Institute 
of  Technology, — in  one  of  the  best  of  the  many 
treatises  on  our  general  subject  of  reading, — thus 
enforces  the  same  lesson:  "  The  most  important 
question  for  the  good  student  and  reader  is  not, 
amidst  this  multitude  of  books  which  no  man  can 
number,  how  much  he  shall  read.  The  really 
important  questions  are,  first,  what  is  the  quality 
of  what  he  does  read;  and,  second,  what  is  his 
manner  of  reading  it.  There  is  an  analogy  which 
is  more  than  accidental  between  physical  and 
mental  assimilation  and  digestion;  and,  homely 
as  the  illustration  may  seem,  it  is  the  most  forci- 
ble I  can  use.  Let  two  sit  down  to  a  table  spread 
with  food:  one  possessed  of  a  healthy  appetite, 
and  knowing  something  of  the  nutritious  qualities 
of  the  various  dishes  before  him;  the  other  cursed 
with  a  pampered  and  capricious  appetite,  and 
knowing  nothing  of  the  results  of  chemical  and 
physiological  investigation.  One  shall  make  a 
better  meal,  and  go  away  stronger  and  better  fed, 
on  a  dish  of  oatmeal,  than  the  other  on  a  dinner 
that  has  emptied  his  pockets.  Shall  we  study 
physiological  chemistry  and  know  all  about  what 
is  food  for  the  body,  and  neglect  mental  chem- 
istry, and  be  utterly  careless  as  to  what  nutriment 


fjow  /»ucb  to  1Rea&  6i 

is  contained  in  the  food  we  give  our  minds  ?  I 
am  not  speaking  here  of  vicious  literature;  we 
don't  spread  our  tables  with  poisons.  I  speak 
only  of  the  varying  amount  of  nutritive  matter 
contained  in  books." 

The  usefulness  of  books  lies  not  only  in  them- 
selves but  in  the  mind  of  the  reader.  Petrarch 
says:  "  Books  have  brought  some  men  to  know- 
ledge, and  some  to  madness.  As  fulness  some- 
times hurteth  the  stomach  more  than  hunger,  so 
fareth  it  with  the  wits,  and,  as  of  meats,  so  like- 
wise of  books,  the  use  ought  to  be  limited  accord- 
ing to  the  quality  of  him  that  useth  them." 

Lord  Bacon,  in  his  famous  essay,  wisely  says: 
"  Read  not  to  contradict  and  confute,  nor  to  be- 
lieve and  take  for  granted,  nor  to  find  talk  and 
discourse,  but  to  weigh  and  consider." 

Coleridge  concluded,  in  speaking  of  the  frivolous 
and  make-believe  attention  of  unworthy  readers 
to  unworthy  books:  "  Some  readers  are  like  the 
hour-glass — their  reading  is  as  the  sand.  It  runs 
in  and  runs  out,  but  leaves  not  a  vestige  behind. 
Some  like  a  sponge,  which  imbibes  everything, 
and  returns  it  in  the  same  state,  only  a  little 
dirtier.  Some  like  a  jelly-bag,  which  allows  all 
that  is  pure  to  pass  away,  and  retains  only  the 


62  XTbe  Cboice  ot  Boohs 

refuse  and  dregs.  The  fourth  class  may  be  com- 
pared to  the  slave  of  Golconda,  who,  casting  away 
all  that  is  worthless,  preserves  only  the  pure  gems. ' ' 
"  To  stuff  our  minds  with  what  is  simply  trivial, 
simply  curious,  or  that  which  at  best  has  but  a 
low  nutritive  power,"  says  Frederick  Harrison, 
* '  this  is  to  close  our  minds  to  what  is  solid  and 
enlarging  and  spiritually  sustaining.  ...  I 
think  the  habit  of  reading  wisely  is  one  of  the 
most  difficult  habits  to  acquire,  needing  strong 
resolution  and  infinite  pains;  and  I  hold  the  habit 
of  reading  for  mere  reading's  sake,  instead  of  for 
the  sake  of  the  stuff  we  gain  from  reading,  to  be 
one  of  the  worst  and  commonest  and  most  un- 
wholesome habits  we  have.  Why  do  we  still 
suffer  the  traditional  hypocrisy  about  the  dignity 
of  literature,  literature  I  mean  in  the  gross,  which 
includes  about  equal  parts  of  what  is  useful  and 
what  is  useless  ?  Why  are  books  as  books,  writers 
as  writers,  readers  as  readers,  meritorious  and 
honourable,  apart  from  any  good  in  them,  or 
anything  that  we  can  get  from  them  ?  Why  do 
we  pride  ourselves  on  our  powers  of  absorbing 
print,  as  our  grandfathers  did  on  their  gifts  in 
imbibing  port,  when  we  know  that  there  is  a  mode 
of  absorbing  print  which  makes  it  impossible  we 


■fcow  nbwcb  to  1Rea&  63 

can  ever  learn  anything  good  out  of  books  ?  Our 
stately  Milton  said  in  a  passage  which  is  one  of 
the  watchwords  of  the  English  race,  'As  good 
almost  kill  a  man  as  kill  a  good  book.'  But  has 
he  not  also  said  that  he  would  '  have  a  vigilant 
eye  how  books  demean  themselves  as  well  as  men, 
and  do  sharpest  justice  on  them  as  malefactors '  ? 
Yes!  they  do  kill  the  good  book  who  deliver  up 
their  few  and  precious  hours  of  reading  to  the 
trivial  book;  they  make  it  dead  for  them;  they 
do  what  lies  in  them  to  destroy  '  the  precious 
life-blood  of  a  master  spirit,  embalmed  and  treas- 
ured up  on  purpose  to  a  life  beyond  life ' ;  they 
'spill  that  seasoned  life  of  man  preserved  and 
stored  up  in  books.'  For  in  the  wilderness  of 
books  most  men,  certainly  all  busy  men,  must 
strictly  choose.  If  they  saturate  their  minds  with 
the  idler  books,  the  '  good  book,'  which  Milton 
calls  '  an  immortality  rather  than  a  life,'  is  dead 
to  them:  it  is  a  book  sealed  up  and  buried." 

And  just  here,  even  at  the  risk  of  repeating 
what  has  been  said  before,  in  this  series  of  chap- 
ters, I  want  to  quote  some  words  of  the  German 
pessimistic  philosopher  Schopenhauer:  "It  is 
the  case  with  literature  as  with  life:  wherever 
we  turn  we  come  upon  the  incorrigible  mob  of 


64  Ube  Cbofce  of  Boofts 

humankind,  whose  name  is  Legion,  swarming 
everywhere,  damaging  everything,  as  flies  in 
summer.  Hence  the  multiplicity  of  bad  books, 
those  exuberant  weeds  of  literature  which  choke 
the  true  corn.  Such  books  rob  the  public  of 
time,  money,  and  attention,  which  ought  properly 
to  belong  to  good  literature  and  noble  aims,  and 
they  are  written  with  a  view  merely  to  make 
money  or  occupation.  They  are  therefore  not 
merely  useless,  but  injurious.  Nine  tenths  of  our 
current  literature  has  no  other  end  but  to  inveigle 
a  thaler  or  two  out  of  the  public  pocket,  for  which 
purpose  author,  publisher,  and  printer  are  leagued 
together.  A  more  pernicious,  subtler,  and  bolder 
piece  of  trickery  is  that  by  which  penny-a- 
liners  and  scribblers  succeed  in  destroying  good 
taste  and  real  culture.  .  .  .  Hence  the  para- 
mount importance  of  acquiring  the  art  not  to 
read;  in  other  words,  of  not  reading  such  books 
as  occupy  the  public  mind,  or  even  those  which 
make  a  noise  in  the  world,  and  reach  several  edi- 
tions in  their  first  and  last  years  of  existence. 
We  should  recollect  that  he  who  writes  for  fools 
finds  an  enormous  audience,  and  we  should  de- 
vote the  ever  scant  leisure  of  our  circumscribed 
existence  to  the  master  spirits  of  all  ages  and 


Ibow  nbwcb  to  1Rea&  65 

nations,  those  who  tower  over  humanity,  and 
whom  the  voice  of  Fame  proclaims:  only  such 
writers  cultivate  and  instruct  us.  Of  bad  books 
we  can  never  read  too  little;  of  the  good  never 
too  much.  The  bad  are  intellectual  poison  and 
undermine  the  understanding.  Because  people 
insist  on  reading  not  the  best  books  written  for 
all  time,  but  the  newest  contemporary  literature, 
writers  of  the  day  remain  in  the  narrow  circle  of 
the  same  perpetually  revolving  ideas,  and  the  age 
continues  to  wallow  in  its  own  mire.  .  .  , 
Mere  acquired  knowledge  belongs  to  us  only  like 
a  wooden  leg  and  wax  nose.  Knowledge  attained 
by  means  of  thinking  resembles  our  natural  limbs, 
and  is  the  only  kind  that  really  belongs  to  us. 
Hence  the  difference  between  the  thinker  and  the 
pedant.  The  intellectual  possession  of  the  inde- 
pendent thinker  is  like  a  beautiful  picture  which 
stands  before  us,  a  living  thing  with  fitting  light 
and  shadow,  sustained  tones,  perfect  harmony  of 
colour.  That  of  the  merely  learned  man  may  be 
compared  to  a  palette  covered  with  bright  colours, 
perhaps  even  arranged  with  some  system,  but 
wanting  in  harmony,  coherence,  and  meaning. 
.  .  .  Only  those  writers  profit  us  whose  under- 
standing is  quicker,  more  lucid  than  our  own,  by 
5 


66  Ube  Cboice  of  Boofts 

whose  brain  we  indeed  think  for  a  time,  who 
quicken  our  thoughts,  and  lead  us  whither  alone 
we  could  not  find  our  way." 

When  one  perceives  that  he  is  turning  page 
after  page  without  noting  what  is  printed  thereon, 
without  reflecting  on  the  information  aflforded  him, 
or  without  knowing  why  he  is  reading  at  all,  it 
is  time  for  him  to  stop,  whether  he  has  read  one 
page  or  one  thousand.  We  take  it  for  granted, 
as  was  urged  in  a  previous  chapter,  that  every 
wise  reader  will  determine  first  of  all  why  he  has 
chosen  a  particular  book :  whether  for  instruction, 
or  guidance,  or  warning,  or  mere  amusement. 
In  any  case — and  this  remark  applies  to  books 
taken  up  for  amusement  and  recreation,  as  well 
as  to  the  gravest  history  or  the  most  abstruse 
mathematical  treatise — when  the  book  ceases  to 
perform  its  legitimate  function,  it  is  time  to  lay 
it  down  and  engage  in  some  other  occupation. 

"  Do  not  read  too  much  at  a  time,"  says  Ed- 
ward E.  Hale;  "  stop  when  you  are  tired,  and  in 
whatever  way  make  some  review  of  what  you 
read,  even  as  you  go  along." 

Here,  as  in  every  other  division  of  the  general 
subject,  the  duty  of  attention  to  purpose  should 
ever  be  borne  in  mind.     If  your  purpose  is  to 


t)o\v  /Ducb  to  1Rea&  67 

learn,  read  just  enough  to  learn;  if  to  rest  your 
mind,  readjust  enough  to  do  that.  When  a  his- 
tory becomes  a  tiresome  burden,  or  a  biography 
but  an  idle  amusement,  or  a  novel  a  task,  then  you 
may  be  quite  sure  that  you  have  read  too  much. 

Some  persons  read  both  too  much  and  too  little; 
they  handle  a  great  many  volumes  on  a  vast 
number  of  topics,  but,  having  failed  to  assimilate 
what  they  have  read,  they  feel  at  last  the  dearth 
that  comes  from  a  dissipation  of  power. 

Bishop  Potter  advises  us  to  "study  subjects 
rather  than  books;  therefore  compare  different 
authors  on  the  same  subjects;  the  statements  of 
authors  with  information  collected  from  other 
sources,  and  the  conclusions  drawn  by  a  writer 
with  the  rules  of  sound  logic."  Should  one  thus 
regulate  his  time  for  intellectual  work,  he  would 
find  that  any  essential  or  habitual  deviation  from 
this  plan  would  be,  so  far  as  the  plan  is  con- 
cerned, a  waste  of  time,  and  an  ov^erplus  of  read- 
ing. If  one  is  determined  to  read  Green's  Short 
History  of  the  English  People,  for  instance,  he  is 
reading  too  much  if  he  sits  up  half  the  night  to 
finish  the  last  ephemeral  novel  of  which  a  hundred 
thousand  copies  were  sold  before  publication. 

If,  on  the  other  hand,  he  is  preparing  for  a 


68  Ube  Cboice  of  JSoofts 

village  reading-club  a  careful  analysis  of  the  gen- 
eral method  of  some  worthy  novelist,  he  will  be 
reading  too  much  if  he  gives  himself  a  "stint "  of 
two  hundred  of  Green's  pages  in  a  day.  What 
under  certain  circumstances  would  be  praise- 
worthy and  advantageous,  under  others  is  blame- 
worthy and  injurious. 

In  this  connection  a  word  should  be  said  con- 
cerning rereading.  L,uther  says:  "  All  who 
would  study  with  advantage,  in  any  art  whatso- 
ever, ought  to  betake  themselves  to  the  reading 
of  some  sure  and  certain  books  oftentimes  over; 
for  to  read  many  books  produceth  confusion, 
rather  than  learning,  like  as  those  who  dwell 
ever>' where  are  not  anywhere  at  home."  John 
Morley,  in  his  address  on  the  popular  study  of 
literature,  remarked:  "  I  need  not  tell  you  that 
you  will  find  that  most  books  worth  reading  once 
are  worth  reading  twice,  and — what  is  most  im- 
portant of  all — the  masterpieces  of  literature  are 
worth  reading  a  thousand  times.  It  is  a  great 
mistake  to  think  that  because  you  have  read  a 
masterpiece  once  or  twice,  or  ten  times,  therefore 
you  have  done  with  it.  Because  it  is  a  master- 
piece, you  ought  to  live  with  it,  and  make  it  part 
of  your  daily  life." 


Dow  ADucb  to  lRea&  69 

It  is  of  course  well  to  reread  good  books;  al- 
most everyone  has  a  favourite  author  or  authors, 
to  whom  he  turns  with  constant  delight  and 
profit,  and  the  habit  of  a  second,  or  third,  or 
fourth  reading  of  a  good  book,  or  chapter  of  a 
book,  greatly  aids  the  understanding  and  the 
memory.  But  this  habit  may  easily  be  carried 
too  far.  We  must  forget  something, —  much. 
God  has  so  ordered  our  mental  powers,  and  it  is 
useless  for  us  to  quarrel  with  the  ordering. 
Therefore  we  should  not  attempt  to  read  a  few 
books  constantly,  to  the  entire  and  virtual  neglect 
of  others.  There  are  too  many  noble  volumes 
that  we  must  leave  untouched,  at  the  best.  Read 
carefully  and  thoughtfully,  and  reread  wisely; 
but  do  not  lament  unduly  your  failures  of  mem- 
ory, nor  strive  to  correct  them  by  excessive  de- 
votion to  one  little  niche  in  the  cathedral  of 
literature. 

As  regards  the  question  how  much  to  read, 
there  is  often  a  sad  similarity  of  mental  vacuous- 
ness  between  those  who  read  next  to  nothing  at 
all,  and  those  who  skim  newspapers,  magazines, 
and  books  with  the  same  superficial  purposeless- 
ness.  I  would  that  these  true  words  of  two  emi- 
nent English  educators  could  at  least  be  read 


70  TEbe  Cbolce  of  Boofts 

aloud,  if  no  more,  in  the  hearing  of  those  who 
will  not  read  for  themselves.  R.  H.  Quick,  after 
quoting  Mark  Pattison's  statement  that  "  the 
dearth  of  books  is  only  the  outward  and  visible 
sign  of  the  mental  torpor  which  reigns  in  those 
destitute  regions," — the  middle-class  homes  of 
England, — goes  on  to  say:  "  I  much  doubt  if  he 
would  find  more  books  in  the  middle-class  homes 
of  the  Continent.  There  is  only  one  kind  of 
reading  that  is  nearly  universal — the  reading  of 
newspapers;  and  the  newspaper  lacks  the  element 
of  permanence,  and  belongs  to  the  domain  of  talk 
rather  than  of  literature.  Even  when  we  get 
among  the  so-called  '  educated,'  we  find  that 
those  who  care  for  literature  form  a  very  small 
minority.  The  rest  have  of  course  read  Shake- 
speare and  Milton  and  Walter  Scott  and  Tenny- 
son, but  they  do  not  read  them.  The  lion's 
share  of  our  time  and  thoughts  and  interests  must 
be  given  to  our  business  or  profession,  whatever 
that  may  be;  and  in  few  instances  is  this  con- 
nected with  literature.  For  the  rest,  whatever 
time  or  thought  a  man  can  spare  from  his  calling 
is  mostly  given  to  his  family,  or  to  society,  or  to 
some  hobby  which  is  not  literature.  And  love 
of  literature  is  not  seen  in  such  reading  as  is 


f)ow  /»ucb  to  1Rcnt>  71 

common.  The  literary  spirit  shows  itself,  as  I 
said,  in  appreciating  beauty  of  expression;  and 
how  far  beauty  of  expression  is  cared  for  we  may 
estimate  from  the  fact  that  few  people  think  of 
reading  anything  a  second  time.  The  ordinary 
reader  is  profoundly  indifferent  about  style,  and 
will  not  take  the  trouble  to  understand  ideas. 
He  keeps  to  periodicals  or  light  fiction,  which 
enables  the  mind  to  loll  in  its  easy  chair  (so  to 
speak),  and  see  pass  before  it  a  series  of  pleasing 
images.  An  idea,  as  Mark  Pattison  says,  is  an 
excitant,  comes  from  mind  and  calls  forth  mind; 
an  image  is  a  sedative,  and  most  people,  when 
they  take  up  a  book,  are  seeking  a  sedative." 

In  a  "day  of  uninspired  thought  and  clever 
craftsmanship,"  as  our  time  has  been  called, 
those  who  read  little,  or  little  that  is  good,  dis- 
play to  all  beholders  their  own  mental  vacuity. 
"  You  can  tell  a  man  by  the  company  he  keeps." 
"  There  is  a  choice  in  books  as  in  friends,"  says 
Lowell,  "  and  the  mind  sinks  or  rises  to  the  level 
of  its  habitual  society:  is  subdued,  as  Shakespeare 
says  of  the  dyer's  hand,  to  what  it  works  in. 
Cato's  advice.  Cum  bonis  ambula,  consort  with 
the  good,  is  quite  as  true  if  we  extend  it  to  books, 
for  they,   too,   insensibly  give  away  their  own 


72  XTbe  Cboice  of  Boohs 

nature  to  the  mind  that  converses  with  them. 
They  either  beckon  upwards  or  drag  down." 

It  is  with  good  books  as  with  true  friends: 
spend  in  their  company  all  the  time  you  can 
give. 


REMEMBERING  WHAT  ONE  READS 

SCARCELY  anything  is  more  annoying  to 
readers  than  the  fact  that  they  forget  so 
much  of  what  they  read.  In  history, 
dates  and  names  pass  from  the  mind;  poems  once 
known  by  heart  fade  away  from  recollection;  and 
the  characters,  the  plots,  or  perhaps  the  very  titles 
of  stories  which  were  once  familiar  depart  as  ut- 
terly as  though  they  had  never  been  known  at  all. 
In  connection  with  this  question  of  the  reten- 
tion or  non-retention  of  what  one  reads,  it  should 
never  be  forgotten,  as  was  remarked  in  the  pre- 
ceding chapter,  that  God  has  evidently  arranged 
the  powers  of  the  human  mind  in  such  a  way 
that  we  must  forget  a  great  deal,  however  care- 
fully we  strive  to  remember  all  we  can.  A  large 
part  of  our  knowledge,  too,  is  to  be  considered 
as  nutriment,  or  as  intellectual  exercise;  and  we 
should  no  more  lament  its  loss  than  the  fact  that 
we  do  not  remember  what  we  had  for  breakfast  a 
year  ago  to-day,  or  the  exact  length  of  the  in- 
vigorating walk  we  took  on  that  breezy  morning 
73 


74  trbe  Cboice  ot  3Boohs 

"week  before  last.  Some  books  are  by  no  means 
read  without  profit  if  a  part,  or  even  the  whole, 
of  them  be  forgotten  beyond  recall.  And  it  is  a 
consolation  to  reflect  that  the  very  best  use  to 
which  some  of  our  past  reading  can  be  put  is  to 
be  forgotten  as  speedily  as  possible.  If  we  have 
lost  some  things  that  were  good  and  pleasant,  we 
have  luckily  blotted  from  our  minds  not  a  little 
that  was  noxious  and  unattractive. 

But  a  "  poor  memory  "  is  a  thing  that  can  be 
materially  strengthened ;  and  after  all  reservations 
have  been  made,  we  should  not  forget  the  duty 
of  remembering  all  we  really  ought  to  remember, 
so  far  as  the  natural  powers  of  our  minds  permit. 
The  first  and  the  last  aid  to  a  memory  is  a  habit 
of  paying  strict  attention  to  what  we  read. 
"  Special  efforts  should  be  made  to  retain  what  is 
gathered  from  reading,"  says  President  Porter, 
"  if  any  such  efforts  are  required.  Some  persons 
read  with  an  interest  so  wakeful  and  responsive, 
and  an  attention  so  fixed  and  energetic,  as  to 
need  no  appliances  and  no  efforts  in  order  to  re- 
tain what  they  read.  They  look  upon  a  page  and 
it  is  imprinted  upon  the  memory.  .  .  .  But 
there  are  others  who  read  only  to  lose  and  to  for- 
get.    Facts  and  truths,  words  and  thoughts,  are 


IRemembering  Mbat  One  lRea&s     75 

alike  evanescent.  We  shall  not  attempt  to  ex- 
plain here  the  nature  of  these  differences.  We 
are  concerned  only  to  devise  the  remedy;  we  in- 
sist that  those  who  labour  under  these  difficulties 
should  use  special  appliances  to  avoid  or  over- 
come them.  But  that  upon  which  we  insist  most 
of  all,  is  that  what  we  read  we  should  seek  to 
make  our  own  only  in  the  manner  and  after  the 
measure  of  which  we  are  capable."  Doctor 
Porter  then  goes  on  to  advise  each  reader  to 
follow  his  natural  bent  and  aptitudes;  and  not  to 
worry,  if  he  lacks  a  good  verbal  memory,  over 
his  inability  to  remember  choice  phrases  or  strik- 
ing stanzas,  nor  to  vex  his  soul  over  his  failure  to 
retain  names  and  dates.  "  When  a  man  reads," 
he  says,  "  he  should  put  himself  into  the  most 
intimate  intercourse  with  his  author,  so  that  all 
his  energies  of  apprehension,  judgment,  and  feel- 
ing may  be  occupied  with,  and  aroused  by,  what 
his  author  furnishes,  whatever  it  may  be.  If 
repetition  or  review  will  aid  him  in  this,  as  it 
often  will,  let  him  not  disdain  or  neglect  frequent 
reviews.  If  the  use  of  the  pen,  in  brief  or  full 
notes,  in  catch-words  or  other  symbols,  will  aid 
him,  let  hira  not  shrink  from  the  drudgery  of  the 
pen   and   the   commonplace-book.     .     .     .     But 


76  Ube  Cbotce  of  IBoofts 

there  is  no  charm  or  eflScacy  in  such  mechanism 
by  itself.  It  is  only  valuable  as  a  means  to  an 
end,  and  that  end  is  to  quicken  the  intellectual 
energies  by  arousing  and  holding  the  attention." 
Hamerton  has  expressed  an  opinion  that 
what  is  called  a  ' '  defective  memory  "  is  by  no 
means  an  unmixed  evil.  He  says  there  is  such  a 
thing  as  a  "  selecting  memory,  which  is  not  only 
useful  for  what  it  retains,  but  for  what  it  rejects." 
What  really  interests  us  we  can  usually  retain 
without  recourse  to  any  elaborate  system  of 
mnemonics.  That  which  does  not  properly  in- 
terest us  we  cannot  thus  retain.  "  Had  Goethe 
been  a  poor  student,  bound  down  to  the  exclusive 
legal  studies  which  did  not  greatly  interest  him, 
it  is  likely  that  no  one  would  ever  have  suspected 
his  immense  faculty  of  assimilation.  In  this  way 
men  who  are  set  by  others  to  load  their  memories 
with  what  is  not  their  proper  intellectual  food 
never  get  the  credit  of  having  any  memory  at  all, 
and  end  by  themselves  believing  that  they  have 
none.  These  bad  memories  are  often  the  best; 
they  are  often  the  selecting  memories.  They 
seldom  win  distinction  in  examinations;  but  in 
literature  and  art  they  are  quite  incomparably 
superior  to  the  miscellaneous  memories  that  re- 


IRcmembering  XRIlbat  One  IReaDs     77 

ceive  only  as  boxes  and  drawers  receive  what  is 
put  into  them.  A  good  literary  or  artistic  mem- 
ory is  not  like  a  post-oflBce,  that  takes  in  every- 
thing, but  like  a  very  well  edited  periodical, 
which  prints  nothing  that  does  not  harmonise 
with  its  intellectual  life." 

I  fully  believe  in  training  and  disciplining  and 
developing  the  memory.  But  I  also  believe  that 
the  very  essence  of  that  training  is  the  cultivation 
of  a  habit  of  friendliness,  kinship,  and  intimacy 
with  the  printed  page.  Mere  mnemonic  devices 
have  been  said  to  be  like  tying  a  frying-pan  to 
one  coat-tail  and  a  child's  kite  to  another.  The 
true  art  of  memory  is  the  art  of  perceiving  the 
relations  and  uses  of  things,  not  their  external 
characteristics;  and  above  all,  not  their  artificial 
relations  to  some  essentially  foreign  object  or 
symbol.  The  purpose  of  memory  is  to  help  us; 
when  a  memory- machine  fails  to  help  us,  and 
cumbers  and  overshadows  that  which  it  pretends 
to  aid,  it  is  worse  than  worthless. 
'  Again,  it  should  be  kept  in  mind  that  no  one 
brain  has  a  right  to  tyrannise  over  another,  or  to 
lay  down  laws  for  it,  in  this  matter  of  memor5\ 
For  instance,  a  certain  person  remembers  in- 
stinctively, and  without  efifort,  the  name  of  the 


78  XTbe  Cbotce  of  3Boofts 

author,  publisher,  and  printer  of  whatever  book 
he  takes  in  his  hand,  and  also  its  size,  shape, 
colour  of  binding,  and  style  of  typography.  Two 
or  three  readings  of  a  college  catalogue  leave 
upon  his  mind  the  surnames.  Christian  names, 
and  residences  of  a  majority  of  the  persons  there 
recorded.  Guidebooks  and  city  directories  are  a 
rest  and  recreation  to  him;  the  names,  locations, 
and  pastors  of  the  majority  of  all  the  churches  in 
the  cities  he  has  visited  are  retained  in  mind 
without  effort;  and  frequently,  when  visiting  a 
town  for  the  first  time,  this  habit  of  memory  leads 
him  to  be  considered  a  local  antiquary  and  spe- 
cialist. Now,  these  things  seem  so  natural  to 
him,  and  are  acquired  so  absolutely  without  effort 
of  any  kind,  that  he  can  hardly  understand  why 
everyone  else  does  not  remember  them  equally 
well.  But  he  has  not  the  slightest  right  to  pre- 
scribe a  course  of  guidebooks,  college  catalogues, 
or  city  directories  for  others,  any  more  than  they 
have  to  demand  that  he  recite  Coleridge's  Ancient 
Mariner,  or  give  the  dates  of  the  Third  Punic 
War,  or  the  signing  of  the  Magna  Charta,  or 
Braddock's  defeat,  which  he  remembers  with  as 
much  difficulty  as  any  other  reader. 
In  other  words,  no  one  has  a  right  to  insist 


IRememberina  Mbat  One  1Rea^s     79 

that  another  person  shall  remember  as  or  what  he 
himself  remembers.  But  it  should  always  be  de- 
manded of  every  reader  that  he  conscientiously 
try  to  strengthen  his  memory  by  seeking  to  un- 
derstand the  nature  and  purpose  of  what  he 
reads,  its  serviceableness  to  himself,  and  to  the 
world  through  him,  and  its  relations  to  his  par- 
ticular mental  constitution  and  his  wise  intel- 
lectual regimen. 

This  diversity  of  memories  is  admirably  stated 
by  Cardinal  Newman.  "  We  can,"  he  says, 
"  form  an  abstract  idea  of  memory,  and  call  it 
one  faculty  which  has  for  its  subject-matter  all 
past  facts  of  our  personal  experience;  but  this  is 
really  only  an  illusion;  for  there  is  no  such  gift 
of  universal  memory.  Of  course  we  all  remem- 
ber in  a  way  as  we  reason,  in  all  subject-matters, 
but  I  am  speaking  of  remembering  rightly,  as  I 
spoke  of  reasoning  rightly.  In  real  fact,  mem- 
ory, as  a  talent,  is  not  one  indivisible  faculty, 
but  a  power  of  retaining  and  recalling  the  past  in 
this  or  that  department  of  our  experience,  not  in 
any  whatever.  Two  memories,  which  are  both 
specially  retentive,  may  also  be  incommensurate. 
Some  men  can  recite  the  canto  of  a  poem,  or  a 
good  part  of  a  speech,  after  once  reading  it,  but 


8o  Ube  Cbofce  ot  3Boohs 

have  no  head  for  dates.  Others  have  great  ca- 
pacity for  the  vocabulary  of  languages,  but  recol- 
lect nothing  of  the  small  occurrences  of  the  day 
or  year.  Others  never  forget  any  statement 
which  they  have  read,  and  can  give  volume  and 
page,  but  have  no  memory  for  faces.  I  have 
known  those  who  could,  without  effort,  run 
through  the  succession  of  days  on  which  Kaster 
fell  for  years  back;  or  could  say  where  they  were, 
or  what  they  were  doing,  on  a  given  day  in  a 
given  year;  or  could  recollect  the  Christian  names 
of  friends  and  strangers;  or  could  enumerate  in 
exact  order  the  names  on  all  the  shops  from  Hyde 
Park  corner  to  the  Bank;  or  had  so  mastered  the 
University  Calendar  as  to  be  able  to  bear  an  ex- 
amination in  the  academical  history  of  any  M.A. 
taken  at  random.  And  I  believe  in  most  of  these 
cases  the  talent,  in  its  exceptional  character,  did 
not  extend  beyond  several  classes  of  subjects. 
There  are  a  hundred  memories  as  there  are  a 
hundred  virtues." 

Phenomenal  memory  —  the  power  to  repeat  a 
chapter  after  a  single  reading  or  a  sermon  after 
one  hearing — is  often  associated  with  mental  in- 
capacity in  other  lines  of  effort.  The  ability  to 
"quote  poetry,"  or,  in  the  exaggerated  phrase, 


IRemcmbering  Mbat  One  IReaDs     8i 

"  to  repeat  all  Shakespeare  by  heart,"  is  of  course 
a  comfort  in  sleepless  nights,  or  in  travel,  or  in 
age.  But,  after  all,  there  is  no  use  in  trying  to 
make  one's  head  a  reference-library  for  things 
that  might  as  well  be  left  between  the  covers  of 
books.  The  selective  memory,  that  adapts  needed 
things  to  its  own  uses,  is  the  best.  Says  the  his- 
torian Rhodes  of  two  self-educated  Presidents, 
Andrew  Johnson  and  Abraham  lyincoln :  ' '  John- 
son never  mastered  a  book  as  L,incoln  did  the 
Bible  and  Shakespeare,  weaving  the  substance 
into  his  mental  being." 


THE  USE  OF  NOTE-BOOKS 

A  SEPARATE  chapter  on  the  use  of  note- 
books would  hardly  be  necessary,  in  this 
series  of  papers  on  right  methods  of  read- 
ing, were  it  not  that  many  people  so  misappre- 
hend the  real  service  of  books  of  memoranda,  and 
make  them  a  burden  rather  than  a  help.  Note- 
books, like  all  other  aids  to  reading,  reflection, 
and  the  utilisation  of  knowledge,  should  be 
valued  for  the  true  assistance  they  may  render, 
and  for  that  alone.  But  it  very  often  happens 
that  one  who  is  beginning  to  read  comes  to  the 
conclusion  that  method  in  reading,  especially  in 
the  preservation  of  its  results,  is  the  one  thing 
essential,  and  that  nothing  is  so  useful,  toward 
this  end,  as  an  elaborate  note-book  system. 
Therefore  he  purchases  a  large  alphabetised 
blank  book,  and  having  begun  to  read  Taine's 
English  Literature,  let  us  say,  he  makes  elaborate 
entries  of  matters  contained  in  the  first  few  chap- 
ters. But  as  his  note-book  must  also  record 
everything  that  impresses  him  as  likely  to  have 
82 


XTbe  Tllse  ot  flote*Booft0  83 

any  future  usefulness,  he  sets  down  with  equal 
painstaking  the  leading  points  of  an  article  on 
English  literature  in  the  last  number  of  some 
monthly  magazine,  or  copies  entire  an  interesting 
paragraph  from  a  daily  newspaper.  After  a  few 
days,  or  perhaps  weeks,  he  finds  it  inconvenient 
to  hunt  up  note-book,  pen,  and  ink,  every  time 
he  takes  a  volume  in  his  hand,  and  so  he  gradu- 
ally lessens  the  number  of  entries;  and  thus  the 
book  soon  becomes  an  unserviceable  and  unused 
chronicle  of  a  few  straggling  facts,—  to  be  re- 
manded to  the  closet  shelf,  or  to  be  cut  up,  at 
last,  for  kindling  or  scribbling  paper.  In  the 
end,  such  a  note-book  becomes  a  weight  and  an 
incumbrance  upon  the  reading  habit,  rather  than 
a  helper  to  it. 

A  note-book  should  be  started  upon  a  plan  too 
modest  rather  than  too  ambitious,  and  should 
never  be  allowed  to  get  above  the  humble  place 
of  a  servant.  One  little  blank-book,  costing  a 
dime,  is  far  more  useful,  if  employed  only  for  the 
entry  of  important  references  or  memoranda,  and 
such  only,  than  the  most  elaborate  index  rerum 
or  commonplace-book,  if  made  too  cumbersome 
to  be  of  real  service.  And  it  is  generally  true 
that  a  note-book  should  follow  the  reading  habit, 


84  Ube  Cbofce  of  Boofts 

rather  than  precede  it.  If  you  have  not  done 
something  toward  filling  your  brain  first,  do  not 
expect  to  make  up  the  deficiency  by  your  note- 
book entries. 

Some  readers  and  writers  make  little  use  of  note- 
books, and  some  find  them  extremely  serviceable. 
It  has  been  said  that  ' '  the  brain  is  the  best  and 
most  reliable  memorandum  book;  it  is  always  at 
hand,  use  enlarges  its  capacity  and  increases  its 
usefulness  and  reliability,  and  no  one  can  read  it 
but  its  owner."  I  quite  agree  with  this;  finding 
all  sorts  of  elaborate  memorandum  books  of  little 
use  to  me,  and  employing  nothing  more  than  the 
most  inexpensive  pocket  blank-books,  to  be  torn 
up  when  their  usefulness  has  passed;  or  now  and 
then  a  series  of  envelopes,  with  their  special  sub- 
jects written  upon  them. 

But  in  this  matter  no  one  reader  can  lay  down 
the  law  for  another.  Some  of  the  wisest  of 
American  authors  have  pursued  to  the  fullest  ex- 
tent the  plan  of  using  note-books  all  their  lives, 
and  with  admirable  results.  Mr.  Emerson's  note- 
books are  famous  the  world  over,  and  it  is  said, 
doubtless  with  entire  truth,  that  some  of  his  most 
renowned  essays  are  little  more  than  transcripts 
of  them.     His  entries  of  course  included  his  own 


Zbc  TDlse  of  "WotesBoohs  85 

conclusions  and  reflections  as  well  as  those  of 
others.  It  was  my  good  fortune  to  be  permitted 
to  see,  some  years  ago,  the  remarkable  and  sub- 
stantially similar  methods  by  which  two  other 
American  authors — A.  Bronson  Alcott  and  Ray 
Palmer — preserved  well-nigh  the  entire  body  of 
the  letters  they  received  in  the  whole  course  of 
their  literary  lives.  In  both  cases  these  valuable 
libraries  of  correspondence  became  a  long  file  of 
volumes;  and  Mr.  Alcott  combined  with  his  a 
diary  of  each  day's  events  for  a  lifetime.  Such 
collections  as  these  are  in  a  true  sense  monu- 
mental, and  are,  in  a  way,  valuable  contributions 
to  the  intellectual  history  of  the  time — though 
they  must  include  a  great  deal  of  waste  matter. 

The  late  William  B.  Reed,  an  agreeable,  if  for- 
gotten, American  writer  of  literary  essays,  says 
of  the  right  use  of  quotation  books:  "As  in  every 
house,  we  are  told,  there  is  a  skeleton,  and  in 
every  doctor's  shop  a  case  of  instruments  for 
emergencies,  mysteriously  veiled  from  vulgar 
gaze,  so  in  all  libraries,  and  especially  if  it  be  one 
of  a  writer  or  public  speaker,  are  there  corners 
where  are  put  away  for  convenient  use  not  only 
commonplace-books,  happily  out  of  date,  but  in- 
dexes rerum,  and  Burtori's  A?iatomy,  and  Mur- 


86  Zbc  Cboice  of  JSoofts 

rays  Handbooks  for  Geographical  Illustration,  and 
lexicons  and  concordances  (all  honours  to  those 
immortal  C's,  Cruden  and  Mrs.  Cowden  Clarke), 
a  thesaurus  or  two,  and  finally  '  dictionaries  of 
quotations.'  It  depends  very  much  upon  their 
nature  whether  such  dictionaries  are  good  or  bad. 
The  young  student  uses  them,  and  for  this  end 
they  were  first  devised,  to  furnish  him  with  quo- 
tations with  which  to  garnish  what  he  writes,  and 
show  his  scholarship.  This  is  spurious.  It  is, 
the  poet  tells  us,  the  page  of  knowledge  which  is 

*  rich  with  the  spoils  of  time.'  It  is  out  of  the 
depths  of  a  full  mind  that  bright  literary  illustra- 
tions bubble  up  to  the  surface,  and  any  critical  eye 
can  detect  without  fail  a  got- up  quotation,  or  one 
which  a  mere  dictionary  supplies.     Not  so  the 

*  dictionary,'  as  it  were,  which  aids  memory,  and, 
given  a  fragment  or  sometimes  even  a  word, 
enables  the  scholar  to  find  the  context.  They  are 
not  merely  valuable,  but,  as  auxiliaries,  they  are 
essential  to  complete  literary  work.  So  it  is  with 
written  note- books;  they  cannot  take  the  place  of 
thought;  but  they  can  strengthen  and  arm  it." 

Professor  W.  P.  Atkinson,  in  his  excellent 
lecture  on  reading,  speaks  warmly  of  the  proper 
use  of  note-books.     "  I  cannot  close,"  says  he, 


XCbe  Ulse  ot  flote-JSoolis  87 

"  without  giving  you  one  little  piece  of  purely 
practical  advice.  I  advise  you  all  to  become  what 
I  am  myself,  a  devoted  disciple  of  Captain  Cuttle, 
and  to  bind  on  your  brows  his  admirable  maxim, 
'When  found,  make  a  note  of.'  Witty  old 
Thomas  Fuller  says:  '  Adventure  not  all  thy 
learning  in  one  bottom,  but  divide  it  between  thy 
memory  and  thy  note-books.  ...  A  com- 
monplace-book contains  many  notions  in  garrison, 
whence  an  owner  may  draw  out  an  army  into  the 
field  on  competent  warning.'  This  is  one  of  those 
notions  which  I  have  kept  in  the  garrison  of  my 
note-book  for  many  years.  .  .  .  Reading  is 
only  the  fuel;  and,  the  mind  once  on  fire,  any  and 
all  material  will  feed  the  flame,  provided  only  it 
have  any  combustible  matter  in  it.  And  we  can- 
not tell  from  what  quarter  the  next  material  will 
come.  The  thought  we  need,  the  facts  we  are  in 
search  of,  may  make  their  appearance  in  the 
comer  of  the  newspaper,  or  in  some  forgotten 
volume  long  ago  consigned  to  dust  and  oblivion. 
Hawthorne,  in  the  parlor  of  a  country  inn,  on  a 
rainy  day,  could  find  mental  nutriment  in  an  old 
directory.  That  accomplished  philologist  the 
late  I,ord  Strangford  could  find  ample  amusement 
for  an  hour's  delay  at  a  railway  station  in  tracing 


88  Ube  Cboice  of  aBoohs 

out  the  etymology  of  the  names  in  Bradshaw. 
The  mind  that  is  not  awake  and  alive  will  find  a 
library  a  barren  wilderness.  Now,  gather  up  the 
scraps  and  fragments  of  thought  on  whatever 
subject  you  may  be  studying, — for  of  course  by  a 
note- book  I  do  not  mean  a  mere  receptacle  for 
odds  and  ends,  a  literary  dust-bin, — but  acquire 
the  habit  of  gathering  everything,  whenever  and 
wherever  you  find  it,  that  belongs  in  your  line  or 
lines  of  study,  and  you  will  be  surprised  to  see 
how  such  fragments  will  arrange  themselves  into 
an  orderly  whole  by  the  very  organising  power  of 
your  own  thinking,  acting  in  a  definite  direction. 
This  is  a  true  process  of  self-education;  but  you 
see  it  is  no  mechanical  process  of  aggregation.  It 
requires  activity  of  thought, — but  without  that, 
what  is  any  reading  but  mere  passive  amuse- 
ment? And  it  requires  method.  I  have  myself  a 
sort  of  literary  book-keeping.  I  keep  a  day- 
book, and  at  my  leisure  I  post  my  literary  ac- 
counts, bringing  together  in  proper  groups  the 
fruits  of  much  casual  reading." 

I  may  appropriately  close  this  chapter  with 
some  words  of  advice  on  the  use  of  note-books, 
which  Mr.  Charles  A.  Durfee,  a  competent  au- 
thority on  the  subject,  has  written  for  the  benefit 


Ube  TUse  of  'Rote^Boohs  89 

of  my  readers.  "  Note- books,"  says  Mr.  Durfee, 
"are  to  literary  men  what  books  of  account  are  to 
business  men,  and  are  practically  useful  only  as 
they  are  kept  systematically  and  with  unity  of 
purpose.  But  where  a  balance-sheet  tells  the 
whole  story  in  business,  some  methodical  plan 
must  be  substituted  to  render  the  contents  of 
note-books  available  at  all  times.  The  natural 
desire,  on  the  part  of  energetic  literary  men,  to 
economise  time  and  labour  in  the  taking  and 
keeping  of  notes  leads  to  confusion  ;  and  in  time 
they  find  themselves  surrounded  by  a  mass  of 
material  disheartening  to  think  of,  and  impossible 
to  consult  with  readiness. 

"  A  few  suggestions  resulting  from  long  ex- 
perience may  be  of  value.  Note-books  should 
not  be  so  small  as  to  become  too  numerous,  or  so 
large  as  to  be  cumbersome.  Each  book  should 
be  paged  and  have  a  volume  number.  An  under- 
scored heading  should  precede  each  note,  with 
dividing  lines  between  entries.  By  observing 
these  precautions  the  books  can  be  indexed  in  an 
alphabeted  blank-book,  and  consulted  as  if  they 
were  the  successive  volumes  of  any  indexed 
work.  For  ordinary  purposes  such  a  plan  would 
be  sufl&cient,  but  those  whose  lives  are  devoted 


90  Ube  Cbofcc  of  Boofts 

to  general  literature  or  speciar  branches  require 
to  give  more  attention  to  details.  No  blank-book 
index  can  long  remain  convenient,  as  the  entries 
lose  their  alphabetical  place. 

' '  To  obviate  this,  for  permanent  use,  a  card- 
index  is  indispensable,  being  always  perfect  in 
arrangement,  inasmuch  as  the  newly  made  cards 
are  inserted  in  their  precise  positions.  In  the 
case  of  blank-book  indexes  this  is  impossible  as 
soon  as  a  few  titles  have  been  interlined,  which 
defaces  and  obscures  the  page.  Cards  cut  from 
heavy  raanilla  paper,  arranged  in  boxes  or  trays, 
separated  by  lettered  divisions  of  card-board  pro- 
jecting above  the  rest,  form  an  index,  which,  from 
its  expausiveness,  cheapness,  and  portability, 
meets  every  requirement, 

"  A  card  measuring  two  inches  by  five  inches 
has  been  generall)'  adopted  in  our  leading  libraries 
for  such  purposes.  Such  a  system  renders  un- 
necessary the  keeping  of  separate  note-books  for 
different  subjects,  as  a  properly  prepared  index 
will  be  classified,  under  adequate  headings,  and 
serve  as  a  guide  and  summary  to  the  entire  lit- 
erary matter,  however  extensive,  of  the  most  in- 
dustrious workers." 


THE  CULTIVATION  OF  TASTE 

TASTE  can  be  cultivated.  This  remark,  one 
would  say,  is  of  obvious  truth,  and  needs 
no  discussion  whatever;  but,  in  point  of 
fact,  scarcely  anything  related  to  the  reading 
habit  is  more  frequently  ignored  or  practically  de- 
nied. ' '  I  have  no  taste  for  poetry  " ;  "I  never 
could  enjoy  history";  "  Biography  may  be  very 
well,  but  I  never  could  read  it";  "I  suppose 
Walter  Scott  and  Hawthorne  are  higher  reading 
than  G.  P.  R.  James  or  Miss  Braddon,  but  my 
taste  prefers  the  latter ' ' ; — such  remarks  as  these 
are  sure  to  encounter  one  who  is  seeking  to  raise 
the  standard  of  reading.  Forgetting  that  growth 
and  development  are  the  almost  unvarying 
method  of  nature  in  every  line,  too  many  people 
profess  to  believe,  and  certainly  act  as  though 
believing,  that  a  present  literary  taste  is  an  in- 
flexible and  unalterable  thing,  to  be  accepted 
without  question,  and  no  more  to  be  changed  by 
us  than  our  residence  upon  the  earth  instead  of 
upon  the  moon. 

91 


92  TLbc  Cboice  of  JSoofts 

Ltord  Lytton  is  not  an  author  to  whom  I  am 
accustomed  to  look  for  the  highest  conceptions 
of  life  or  the  wisest  rules  for  its  conduct;  but  on 
this  subject  of  the  cultivation  of  taste  he  puts 
some  excellent  words  into  the  mouth  of  one  of 
the  characters  of  his  novels,  who  explains  that 
good  sense  and  good  taste  are  the  result  of  a  con- 
stant habit  of  right  thinking  and  acting,  of  self- 
denial,  and  of  regulation,  rather  than  accident  or 
natural  temperament.  "Good  sense,"  says  he, 
* '  is  not  a  merely  intellectual  attribute.  It  is 
rather  the  result  of  a  just  equilibrium  of  all  our 
faculties,  spiritual  and  moral.  The  dishonest,  or 
the  toys  of  their  own  passions,  may  have  genius; 
but  they  rarely,  if  ever,  have  good  sense  in  the 
conduct  of  life.  They  may  often  win  large  prizes, 
but  it  is  by  a  game  of  chance,  not  skill.  But  the 
man  whom  I  perceive  walking  an  honourable  and 
upright  career,  just  to  others  and  also  to  himself, 
.  .  .  is  a  more  dignified  representative  of  his 
Maker  than  the  mere  child  of  genius.  Of  such  a 
man,  we  say,  he  has  good  sense;  yes,  but  he  has 
also  integrity,  self-respect,  and  self-denial.  A 
thousand  trials  which  his  sense  braves  and  con- 
quers are  temptations  also  to  his  probity,  his 
temper;  in  a  word,  to  all  the  many  sides  of  his 


XTbe  Cultivation  of  ^aste  93 

complicated  nature.  Now,  I  do  not  think  he  will 
have  this  good  sense  any  more  than  a  drunkard 
will  have  strong  nerves,  unless  he  be  in  the  con- 
stant habit  of  keeping  his  mind  clear  from  the 
intoxication  of  envy,  vanity,  and  the  various 
emotions  that  dupe  and  mislead  us.  Good  sense 
is  not,  therefore,  an  abstract  quality,  or  a  solitary 
talent;  it  is  the  natural  result  of  the  habit  of 
thinking  justly,  and,  therefore,  seeing  clearly, 
and  is  as  diflFerent  from  the  sagacity  that  belongs 
to  a  diplomatist  or  an  attorney  as  the  philosoph}' 
of  Socrates  differed  from  the  rhetoric  of  Gorgias. 
As  a  mass  of  individual  excellences  make  up  this 
attribute  in  a  man,  so  a  mass  of  such  men,  thus 
characterised  give  character  to  a  nation.  Your 
England  is,  therefore,  renowned  for  its  good 
sense,  but  it  is  renowned  also  for  the  excellences 
which  accompany  strong  sense  in  an  individual: 
high  honesty  and  faith  in  its  dealings,  a  warm 
love  of  justice  and  fair  play,  a  general  freedom 
from  the  violent  crimes  common  on  the  Continent, 
and  the  energetic  perseverance  in  enterprise  once 
commenced,  which  results  from  a  bold  and 
healthful  disposition." 

A  bold  and  healthful  disposition,  such  as  Lord 
Lytton  thus  ascribes  to  his  typical  Englishman, 


94  XTbe  Cboice  of  IBoohs 

is  ever  on  the  watch  for  something  better  rather 
than  something  worse;  for  something  that  will 
develop  and  strengthen,  rather  than  something 
that  will  merely  pass  muster.  So  it  is  in  the 
choice  of  books.  You  can  ' '  tell  a  man  ' '  by  the 
books  —  or  nowadays  by  the  newspapers  —  he 
reads.  If  a  person  never  strives  "  to  look  up  and 
not  down,"  in  his  selection  of  books,  he  need  not 
expect  to  see  any  improvement  in  his  intellectual 
faculties,  or  in  his  personal  character  so  far  as 
influenced  by  those  faculties.  President  Porter 
well  says:  "Inspiration,  genius,  individual  tastes, 
elective  affinities,  do  not  necessarily  include  self- 
knowledge,  self-criticism,  or  self-control.  If  the 
genius  of  a  man  lies  in  the  development  of  the 
individual  person  that  he  is,  his  manhood  lies  in 
finding  out  by  self-study  what  he  is  and  what  he 
may  become,  and  in  wisely  using  the  means  that 
are  fitted  to  form  and  perfect  his  individuality." 
The  person  who  reads  as  he  ought  to  read,  there- 
fore, will  try  to  discover  what  his  best  intellectual 
nature  is  now,  and  what  it  may  grow  to  be  in 
time  to  come.  He  will  seek  to  add  strength  and 
facility  to  his  mind,  and  he  will  constantly  strive 
to  correct  such  tendencies  as  he  finds  to  be  in- 
jurious or  not  positively  beneficial,  substituting, 


Ubc  Cultivation  ot  Uaste  95 

therefore,  as  soon  as  may  be,  a  higher  purpose 
and  a  more  creditable  achievement. 

We  must  learn  to  know  books  as  we  learn  to 
know  other  good  things.  "  Who  can  over- 
estimate the  value  of  good  books?" — asks  W.  P. 
Atkinson, — "  those  ships  of  thought,  as  Bacon  so 
finely  calls  them,  voyaging  through  the  sea  of 
time,  and  carrying  their  precious  freight  so  safely 
from  generation  to  generation!  Here  are  the 
finest  minds  giving  us  the  best  wisdom  of  present 
and  all  past  ages;  here  are  intellects  gifted  far 
beyond  ours,  ready  to  give  us  the  results  of  life- 
times of  patient  thought;  imaginations  open  to 
the  beauty  of  the  universe,  far  beyond  what  it  is 
given  us  to  behold;  characters  whom  we  can  only 
vainly  hope  to  imitate,  but  whom  it  is  one  of  the 
highest  privileges  of  life  to  know.  Here  they  all 
are;  and  to  learn  to  know  them  is  the  privilege 
of  the  educated  man." 

We  cannot  come  to  know  them  by  accident,  or 
by  relying  on  past  habitudes.  "  When  I  became 
a  man,"  said  Saint  Paul,  "  I  put  away  childish 
things ' ' ;  and  so  must  the  manly  reader  put  away 
the  childish  habit  of  reading  story-books  alone, 
or  looking  at  pictures,  or  preferring  amusement 
to  instruction    and  mental  development.      Too 


96  Ube  Cboicc  of  ffioofts 

many  readers — one  is  tempted  to  say  the  majority 
of  readers — never  get  beyond  the  picture-book 
stage;  and,  indeed,  there  are  men  and  women  in 
the  world  who  read  fewer  books  and  poorer  books 
than  when  they  were  little  children. 

The  great  authors  are  the  good  authors,  in 
whom  feebleness,  or  coarseness,  or  whimsicality, 
or  meanness  and  malice,  are  accidental  rather 
than  essential.  When  we  are  reading  the  master- 
books  we  need  reject  little;  we  can  absorb  much. 
And  in  our  highest  and  truest  moments  we  may 
take  pride  in  feeling  that  we  have  earned  the 
right  to  share  their  greatness,  and  stand,  so  to 
speak,  on  their  level;  for  it  is  the  apprehension 
of  greatness  that  makes  it  great  for  us,  and  this 
very  apprehension  is  an. honour  to  us,  and  the 
measure  of  our  own  powers  and  attainments. 
Emerson  does  not  make  an  overstatement  when 
he  says:  "  There  is  something  of  poverty  in  our 
criticism.  We  assume  that  there  are  few  great 
men,  all  the  rest  are  little;  that  there  is  but  one 
Homer,  but  one  Shakespeare,  one  Newton,  one 
Socrates.  But  the  soul  in  her  beaming  hour  does 
not  acknowledge  these  usurpations.  We  should 
know  how  to  praise  Socrates,  or  Plato,  or  Saint 
John,  without  impoverishing  us.     In  good  hours 


tlbe  Cultivation  of  Uaste  97 

we  do  not  find  Shakespeare  or  Homer  over  great 
— only  to  have  been  translators  of  the  happy  pres- 
ent— and  every  man  and  woman  divine  possibili- 
ties. 'T  is  the  good  reader  that  makes  the  good 
book;  a  good  head  cannot  read  amiss;  in  every 
book  he  finds  passages  which  seem  confidences 
or  asides  hidden  from  all  else  and  unmistakably 
meant  for  his  ear." 

Behind  the  book  stands  the  author;  if  the 
reader  chooses  the  book  or  the  chapter  as  he 
ought,  he  shares  the  author's  best  self  and  best 
hours;  he  associates  with  a  hero  rather  than  a 
dandy,  with  an  intellectual  giant  rather  than  a 
dwarf;  and  thereby  he  shows  to  what  his  own 
tastes  have  grown.  There  is  truth  and  wisdom 
in  the  aged  Victor  Hugo's  curious  and  Frenchy, 
but  grave  and  deep-felt,  preface  to  an  edition  of  his 
complete  works:  * '  Every  man  who  writes,  writes  a 
book;  that  book  is  himself.  Whether  he  knows 
it  or  not,  whether  he  wishes  it  or  not,  it  is  so. 
From  every  work,  whatever  it  may  be,  mean  or 
illustrious,  there  is  shaped  a  figure,  that  of  the 
writer.  It  is  his  punishment  if  he  be  small;  it  is 
his  recompense  if  he  be  great.  If  we  read  of  the 
siege  of  Troy,  we  see  Achilles,  Hector,  Ulysses, 

Ajax,  Agamemnon;  we  feel  throughout  the  entire 
7 


98  Ube  Cbotce  of  Boofts 

work  a  majesty  which  is  that  of  the  writer.  Has 
Zoilus  written  ?  I^et  us  examine  what  he  has  left. 
He  was  a  grammarian,  a  commentator,  a  glos- 
sarist:  in  every  line  we  read:  Zoilus.  But  when 
the  Iliad  is  open  befoie  you,  you  hear  the  voice 
of  the  centuries  say:  Homer.  In  the  same 
manner  appear  to  us  ^^schylus,  Aristophanes, 
Herodotus,  Pindar,  Theocritus,  Plautus,  Virgil, 
Horace,  Juvenal,  Tacitus,  Dante.  It  is  the  same 
with  the  little;  but  why  name  them?  The  book 
exists;  it  is  what  the  author  has  made  it;  it  is 
history,  philosophy,  an  epic;  it  belongs  to  the 
loftiest  regions  of  art;  it  dwells  in  the  lower 
regions;  it  is  what  he  is,  uncombined,  insulated; 
arising  for  ever  by  his  side,  is  this  shadow  of 
himself,  the  figure  of  the  author.  Only  at  the 
close  of  a  long  life,  laborious  and  stormy,  given 
wholly  to  thought  and  to  action,  do  these  truths 
reveal  themselves.  Responsibility,  the  insepara- 
ble companion  of  liberty,  shows  itself.  The  man 
who  traces  these  lines  comprehends  them.  He 
is  calm.  As  immovable  as  if  before  the  Infinite, 
he  is  not  troubled.  To  all  the  questions  which 
ignorance  may  propound  he  has  but  one  reply :  I 
am  a  conscience.  This  reply  every  man  can 
make  or  has  made.     If  he  has  made  it  with  all 


TLbc  Cultivation  of  XTaste  99 

the  candour  of  a  sincere  soul,  that  sufl5ces.  As 
to  him,  feeble,  ignorant,  confined,  but  having  en- 
deavoured to  seek  the  good,  he  will  say  without 
fear  to  the  great  darkness,  he  will  say  to  the  un- 
known, he  will  say  to  the  mystery:  I  am  a  con- 
science. And  he  will  seem  to  feel  the  unity  of 
the  life  universal  in  the  complete  tranquillity  of 
that  which  is  most  simple  before  that  which  is 
most  profound.  There  is  a  supreme  talent  which 
is  often  given  alone,  which  requires  none  other, 
which  is  often  concealed,  and  which  has  often 
more  power  the  more  it  is  hidden;  this  talent  is 
esteem.  Of  the  value  of  the  work  here  given  in 
its  entirety  to  the  public,  the  future  must  decide. 
But  that  which  is  certain,  that  which  at  present 
contents  the  author,  is  that  in  these  times  where 
we  are,  in  this  tumult  of  opinions,  in  the  violence 
of  prejudice,  whatever  may  be  the  passions,  the 
anger,  the  hate,  no  reader,  whoever  he  may  be, 
if  he  be  himself  worthy  of  esteem,  can  consider 
the  book  without  an  estimate  of  the  author." 

As  I  have  said  in  a  preceding  chapter,  the  cul- 
tivation of  taste  is  not  hastened,  but  is  seriously 
retarded,  by  pretending  that  one  likes  what  he 
does  not  like.  Sincerity  and  honesty  are  essen- 
tial, no  matter  how  low  may  be  the  present  taste, 


loo  Ube  (Tboice  of  3Boofts 

or  how  serious  the  problem  of  elevating  it.  No- 
thing is  gained  by  attempting  to  deceive  others, 
or  one's  self,  in  the  matter.  The  very  expression 
of  a  low  or  degraded  taste  stimulates  one  to  en- 
deavour to  raise  it;  whereas  deceit  or  pretense  are 
prett)'^  sure  to  be  transparent,  and  are  even  more 
injurious  when  successful  than  when  they  fail  to 
deceive.  A  wholesome  ignorance  can  easily  be 
lifted  above  its  former  level;  but  of  silly  falsehood 
there  is  much  less  hope.  A  recent  writer  on 
"Sham  Admiration  in  lyiterature"  has  said  that 
there  is  a  "  well-nigh  universal  habit  of  literary 
lying — of  a  pretense  of  admiration  for  certain 
works  of  which  in  reality  we  know  very  little, 
and  for  which,  if  we  knew  more,  we  should  per- 
haps care  less.  There  are  certain  books  which 
are  standard,  and  as  it  were  planted  in  the  British 
soil,  before  which  the  majority  of  us  bow  the 
knee  and  doff  the  cap  with  a  reverence  that,  in  its 
ignorance,  reminds  one  of  fetish  worship,  and,  in 
its  affectation,  of  the  passion  for  high  art.  The 
works  without  which,  we  are  told  at  book  auc- 
tions, '  no  gentleman's  library  can  be  considered 
complete,'  are  especially  the  objects  of  this  adora- 
tion. ...  A  good  deal  of  this  mock  worship 
is  of  course  due  to  abject  cowardice.     A  man  who 


XTbe  Cultivation  of  Uaste 


says  he  does  n't  like  the  Rambler  runs,  with  some 
folks,  the  risk  of  being  thought  a  fool;  but  he  is 
sure  to  be  thought  that,  for  something  or  another, 
under  any  circumstances;  and,  at  all  events,  why 
should  he  not  content  himself,  when  the  Rambler 
is  belauded,  with  holding  his  tongue,  and  smiling 
acquiescence  ?  It  must  be  conceded  that  there  are 
a  few  persons  who  really  have  read  the  Rambler, 
a  work,  of  course,  I  am  merely  using  as  a  type  of 
its  class.  In  their  young  days  it  was  used  as  a 
schoolbook,  and  thought  necessary  as  a  part  of 
polite  education;  and  as  they  have  read  little  or 
nothing  since,  it  is  only  reasonable  that  they 
should  stick  to  their  colours.  Indeed,  the  French 
satirist's  boast  that  he  could  predicate  the  views 
of  any  man  with  regard  to  both  worlds,  if  he  were 
only  supplied  with  the  simple  data  of  his  age  and 
his  income,  is  quite  true,  in  general,  with  regard 
to  literary  taste.  Given  the  age  of  the  ordinary 
individual — that  is  to  say  of  the  gentleman  *  fond 
of  books,  but  who  has  really  no  time  for  reading ' 
— and  it  is  easy  enough  to  guess  his  literary  idols. 
They  are  the  gods  of  his  youth,  and,  whether  he 
has  been  '  suckled  in  a  creed  outworn '  or  not, 
he  knows  no  other.  These  persons,  however, 
rarely  give  their  opinion  about  literary  matters. 


I02  Ube  Cboice  of  Boofts 

except  oil  compulsion;  they  are  harmless  and 
truthful.  The  tendency  of  society  in  general,  on 
the  other  hand,  is  not  only  to  praise  the  Rambler, 
which  they  have  not  read,  but  to  express  a  noble 
scorn  for  those  who  have  read  it  and  don't  like 
it."  This  writer  goes  on  to  discuss  "  hypocrisy 
in  literature  "  at  length,  and  shows  how  many 
are  ignorant  of,  or  do  not  really  like,  the  authors 
of  whom  everybody  talks;  and  how  their  social 
career  is  marked  by  all  sorts  of  equivocations  and 
falsehoods  with  reference  to  those  authors,  "  It 
is  partly  in  consequence  of  this, ' '  he  says,  ' '  that 
works,  not  only  of  acknowledged  but  genuine 
excellence,  such  as  those  I  have  been  careful  to 
select,  are,  though  so  universally  praised,  so  little 
read.  The  poor  student  attempts  them,  but  fail- 
ing— from  many  causes  no  doubt,  but  also  some- 
times from  the  fact  of  their  not  being  there — to 
find  those  unrivalled  beauties  which  he  has  been 
led  to  expect  in  every  sentence,  he  stops  short, 
where  he  would  otherwise  have  gone  on.  He 
says  to  himself,  '  I  have  been  deceived,'  or  *  I 
must  be  a  born  fool ' ;  whereas  he  is  wrong  in 
both  suppositions.  .  .  .  The  habit  of  mere 
adhesion  to  received  opinion  in  any  matter  is 
most  mischievous,  for  it  strikes  at  the  root  of  in- 


TTbe  Cultivation  of  Uaste         103 

dependence  of  thought;  and  in  literature  it  tends 
to  make  the  public  taste  mechanical."  And  a 
taste  that  is  both  mechanical  and  false  is  surely 
not  likely  to  be  beneficial  to  society  at  large  or  to 
the  individual  reader.  The  remedy  proposed  by 
the  writer  from  whom  I  have  quoted  is  this:  "  It 
is  not  everyone,  of  course,  who  has  an  opinion 
of  his  own  upon  every  subject,  far  less  on  that 
of  literature;  but  everyone  can  abstain  from  ex- 
pressing an  opinion  that  is  not  his  own." 

Certainly  I  do  not  know  a  better  starting-point 
than  this,  if  one  is  really  desirous  of  cultivating 
his  taste:  Do  not  pretend  to  like  what  you  do 
not  like.  Do  not  pretend  to  know  what  you  do 
not  know.  Do  not  be  content  with  your  taste  as 
it  is,  but  try  to  improve  it;  not  expecting  that  you 
will  ever  like  all  that  great  men  have  written. 

For,  in  the  cultivation  of  literary  taste,  in  our- 
selves or  others,  we  should  not  feel  that  we  have 
failed  if  we  cannot  say  that  we  have  learned  to 
enjoy  all  the  famous  masterpieces  of  the  past. 
Some  books  are  relatively  great — for  their  time; 
others  absolutely  great — for  all  time.  Books  may 
be  like  mechanical  inventions  that  do  their  work 
and  then  are  superseded  by  better  machines. 
"  It  is  a  mistake,"  says  John  Morley,  "  to  think 


I04  XTbe  (Eboice  ot  IBoofts 

that  every  book  that  has  a  great  name  in  the 
history  of  books  or  of  thought  is  worth  reading. 
Some  of  the  most  famous  books  are  least  worth 
reading.  Their  fame  was  due  to  their  doing 
something  that  needed  in  their  day  to  be  done. 
The  work  done,  the  virtue  of  the  book  expires." 
But  the  perennial  freshness  of  some  books  is  as 
attractive  now  as  it  was  when  they  were  written. 
When  one  reads  Chaucer,  "it  is  as  though  we 
were  given  a  chance  to  live  a  day  five  hundred 
years  ago. ' '  Shakespeare  makes  us  partners  with 
all  humanity.  Therefore  we  should  assume — as 
is  the  case — that  children  and  youth,  with  their 
naturally  eager  apprehensions,  are  desirous  of 
good  reading  and  can  assimilate  it  more  readily 
than  bad.  Chaucer  and  Shakespeare  and  the 
Bible  itself  are  not  to  be  put  indiscriminately  in 
all  their  parts  before  every  reader  at  all  times; 
but  they  are  perpetual  proofs  that  in  the  develop- 
ment of  taste  we  are  to  start  with  the  fact  that 
life  interests  life. 

In  that  development  of  taste,  as  in  every  other 
element  of  mental  progress,  we  cannot  get  beyond 
the  truth  expressed  by  lyowell :  '  *  The  better  part 
of  every  man's  education  is  that  which  he  gives 
himself." 


Zbc  Cultivation  ot  XTastc         105 

But  the  most  constant  question  I  am  asked  by 
earnest  readers  is  this:  "  How  am  I  to  know 
whether  a  book  is  good  or  great  ?  I  know  what 
I  like;  sometimes  I  enjoy  books  that  the  critics 
do  not  praise,  and  sometimes,  do  the  best  I  can, 
it  is  impossible  for  me  to  read  works  that  every 
history  of  English  literature  calls  standard. 
What  must  I  do  about  it  ?  " 

Well,  the  whole  history  of  civilised  man  is  a 
slow  attempt  to  answer  this  very  question,  in 
many  fields.  What  do  we  mean  by  the  good, 
the  true,  the  beautiful,  the  valuable  ?  There  *s 
no  disputing  about  tastes;  and  definitions  of  such 
words  as  these  have  to  do  with  taste  as  well  as 
morals.  All  we  can  say  about  a  good  or  great 
book  is  that  it  is  one  that  the  majority  of  the  best 
and  wisest  readers,  for  many  years,  have  agreed 
to  declare  good  or  great.  Such  judgment,  in  the 
long  run,  is  pretty  sure  to  be  right.  Conscience 
is  the  illumination  of  our  minds  by  the  best  light 
we  can  get  from  intelligence,  experience,  advice, 
and  the  accumulated  wisdom  of  the  past.  Good 
taste  in  the  choice  of  books  is  simply  the  literary 
conscience  applied  to  the  volume  in  hand. 


POETRY 

POETRY,  said  the  remarkable  singer  whose 
name  consisted  of  the  first  three  letters  of 
the  word,  is  the  rhythmical  creation  of 
beauty.  The  definition  has  never  been  bettered. 
Broadly  interpreted,  it  includes  orchestral  and 
other  music,  but  the  inclusion  is  illustrative  of 
the  origin  and  of  the  range  of  the  poetic  art. 
Poetry  was  the  earliest  form  of  literature;  rhyth- 
mic stress  is  the  very  basis  of  physical  law  in 
the  natural  world;  and  the  beat  of  the  foot  in  the 
tribal  dance  was  at  one  with  the  accent  of  the 
syllable  in  verse.  Later,  when  the  clash  of  sword 
on  armour,  or  other  metallic  sound,  emphasised 
the  important  word,  language  had  but  to  in- 
troduce alliteration  or  end-rhyme  to  produce  a 
similar  effect. 

All  the  way  from  the  simplest  song  of  antiquity 
to  the  most  complicated  verse-forms  of  the  modern 
centuries,  poetry  combines  the  music  of  nature 
with  the  motions  of  the  heart.  "  The  poetry  of 
earth  is  never  dead." 

io6 


poetrp  107 

"  Thou  canst  not  wave  thy  staff  in  air, 
Or  dip  the  paddle  in  the  lake, 
But  thou  carvest  the  bow  of  beauty  there. 
And  the  ripples  in  rhymes  the  oar  forsake." 

Poetry  is  the  human  cry  of  love,  or  exultation,  or 
despair;  it  is  the  melody  of  war  and  of  worship; 
it  is  man's  call  of  kinship  with  the  eternal. 

Some  people  read  a  great  deal  of  poetry,  with 
constant  zest  and  unfailing  advantage;  others, 
though  they  may  be  "great  readers"  of  other 
classes  of  literature,  find  little  pleasure  or  profit 
in  poetry.  Is  it  a  duty  to  read  poetry  ?  Should 
those  who  seem  to  have  no  natural  taste  for  it 
endeavour  to  cultivate  a  taste,  or  should  they 
rest  content  with  the  conclusion  that  some  minds 
appreciate,  and  profit  by,  poetical  compositions, 
while  other  minds  have  no  capacity  for  their 
enjoyment  ? 

It  may  not  be  a  downright  duty  to  like  poetry, 
or  to  try  to  like  it;  but  certainly  it  is  a  misfortune 
that  so  large  and  lovely  a  division  of  the  world's 
literature  should  be  lost  to  any  reader.  The  ab- 
sence of  a  poetic  taste  is  a  sad  indication  of  a  lack 
of  the  imaginative  faculty;  and  without  imagina- 
tion what  is  life?  "The  study  and  reading  of 
poetry,"    says    Noah     Porter,    "  exercises    and 


io8  TTbe  Cboice  of  3Boofts 

cultivates  the  imagination,  and  in  this  way  im- 
parts intellectual  power.  It  is  impossible  to  read 
the  products  of  any  poet's  imagination  without 
using  our  own.  To  read  what  he  creates  is  to 
recreate  in  our  own  minds  the  images  and  pictures 
which  he  first  conceived  and  then  expressed  in 
language." 

If  a  reader  finds  that  the  ideal  has  little  or  no 
place  in  his  intellectual  life  or  in  his  daily  pro- 
cesses of  thought  and  feeling,  then  he  should 
consider,  with  all  soberness,  the  fact  that  a  God- 
given  power  is  slipping  away  from  him — a  power 
without  which  his  best  faculties  must  become 
atrophied;  without  which  he  loses  the  greater 
half  of  the  enjoyment  of  life,  day  by  day;  without 
which,  in  very  truth,  he  cannot  see  all  the  glory 
of  the  open  door  of  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven. 
Children  are  poets;  they  see  fairyland  in  a  poor 
set  of  toy  crockery  or  in  a  ragged  company  of 
broken-nosed  dolls.  Their  powers  of  imagination 
ought  never  to  be  lost  in  the  humdrum  affairs  of 
a  work-a-day  world;  their  habit  of  finding  the 
real  in  the  ideal  is  one  which  cannot  be  laid  aside 
without  great  detriment  to  the  individual  life  and 
character.  There  may,  then,  be  persons  who 
"  have  no  capacity  for  poetry,"  and  who  cannot 


poetri?  109 

cultivate  a  taste  for  it;  but  this  inability,  if  real, 
is  to  be  mourned  as  a  mental  blindness  and  deaf- 
ness, shutting  out  whole  worlds  from  sight  and 
hearing. 

There  is,  of  course,  a  great  deal  of  imaginative 
literature  which  is  not  poetry,  in  the  technical 
sense;  but  if  one  can  read  Hawthorne  with  pleas- 
ure, he  is  quite  sure  to  find  no  stumbling-block 
in  Coleridge.  Between  the  Scott  of  Ivanhoe  and 
the  Scott  oi  Marmion  there  is  really  no  difference. 
It  is  the  poetic  spirit  that  we  should  recognise 
and  take  to  our  hearts,  whatever  be  the  outward 
form  in  which  it  may  be  enshrined. 

What  is  the  poetic  spirit?  Many  have  been 
the  attempts  to  define  it;  but,  after  all,  we  can 
only  say,  in  the  words  Shelley  wrote  in  his  Hymn 
to  the  Spirit  of  Nature :  "All  feel,  yet  see  thee 
never."  Or  again,  is  not  poetry  to  be  described, 
as  nearly  as  we  may  describe  it,  in  two  more  lines 
from  the  same  fine  poem  ? — 

"  Lamp  of  Earth,  where'er  thou  movest 

Its  dim  shapes  are  clad  with  brightness." 

In  W.  P.  Atkinson's  excellent  lecture  on  read- 
ing is  a  passage  concerning  poetry,  which  is  both 
imaginative  and  practical.    ' '  I  have  no  thought, ' ' 


no  Ube  Cboice  ot  IBoofts 

says  he,  "of  attempting  here  a  definition  of 
poetry,  though  I  should  like  to  come  and  give 
you  a  lecture  on  the  art  of  reading  it.  Whether 
we  call  it,  with  Aristotle,  imitation;  whiether  we 
say  more  worthily,  with  Bacon,  *  that  it  was  ever 
thought  to  have  some  participation  of  divineness 
because  it  doth  raise  and  erect  the  mind  by  sub- 
mitting the  shows  of  things  to  the  desires  of  the 
mind,  whereas  reason  doth  buckle  and  bow  the 
mind  unto  the  nature  of  things';  whether,  in 
more  modern  times,  we  define  it,  with  Shelley,  as 
*  the  best  and  happiest  thoughts  of  the  best  and 
happiest  minds ' ;  or  say,  with  Matthew  Arnold, 
that '  poetry  is  simply  the  most  beautiful,  impres- 
sive and  widely  efiective  mode  of  saying  things '; 
and,  again,  that  '  it  is  to  the  poetical  literature  of 
an  age  that  we  must  in  general  look  for  the  most 
perfect  and  the  most  adequate  interpretation  of 
that  age';  or  whether  we  say,  with  the  greatest 
poet  of  the  last  generation,  that  *  poetry  is  the 
breath  and  finer  spirit  of  all  knowledge,  the  im- 
passioned expression  which  is  in  the  countenance 
of  all  science  ' — all  I  am  concerned  to  say  here  is, 
that  poetry  is  that  branch  of  the  literature  of 
power  pre-eminently  worthy  of  study,  and  that 
without  study  we  shall  know  but  little  about  it." 


poetri?  Ill 

We  need  not  think,  then,  that  the  reading  of 
poetry  is  a  matter  of  whim  or  accident,  to  be 
undertaken  without  thought  or  study.  The  be- 
ginning of  its  love  rests  in  the  individual  mind; 
for  its  development  he  must  seek  his  material 
from  the  treasures  around  him,  and  must  work 
out  his  methods  of  utilising  that  material  with 
the  same  care — or  even  greater — which  he  applies 
to  other  departments  of  intellectual  exercise.  Let 
him,  if  he  finds  his  taste  in  need  of  cultivation, 
begin  with  such  poems  as  he  likes;  read  them 
more  than  once;  learn  their  teachings;  apprehend 
their  inner  spirit  and  purpose.  Whatever  the 
beginning,  it  is  sure  to  lead  to  something  better, 
if  the  reader  will  but  resolutely  determine  to 
know  what  the  writer  meant  to  say;  to  see  the 
picture  that  he  portrayed,  or  to  share  his  enthu- 
siasm and  warmth  of  feeling. 

Mr.  G.  J.  Goschen,  the  English  banker  and 
political  economist,  declared  the  cultivation  of 
the  imagination  to  be  essential  to  the  highest  suc- 
cess in  politics,  in  learning,  and  in  the  commercial 
business  of  life.  No  one  is  too  dull,  or  too  pro- 
saic, or  too  much  absorbed  in  the  routine  of 
"practical  life"  to  be  absolved  from  the  care 
of  his  imaginative  powers;  and  no  one  is  likely 


112  Ube  Cboice  ot  3Boohs 

to  find  that  this  care  will  not  repay  him  even  in 
a  practical  sense.  He  who  thinks  wisely,  he  who 
perceives  quickly  that  which  others  do  not  see  at 
all,  is  better  equipped  for  any  work  than  one 
whose  mind  works  slowly  and  feebly,  and  whose 
apprehensions  have  grown  rusty  from  disuse. 

Poetry  is  not  for  the  few,  but  for  the  many,  for 
all.  The  world's  great  poems,  almost  without 
exception,  have  been  poems  whose  meaning  has 
been  perfectly  clear  and  whose  language  has  been 
simple, — poems  which  have  addressed  themselves 
to  the  plain  and  common  sense  of  the  ages. 
Homer,  and  Virgil,  and  Dante,  and  Goethe,  and 
Hugo,  and  Chaucer,  and  Shakespeare  need  no 
mystical  commentary  to  explain  their  meaning; 
like  Mark  Antony,  they  "  only  speak  right  on." 
If  a  poet  has  not  made  himself  clear,  it  is  his  fault 
and  not  yours,  if  you  have  sincerely  endeavoured 
to  appreciate  the  noblest  things  in  thought  and 
life.  Sunlight,  air,  water — these  are  not  for  the 
few;  nor  is  poetry  to  be  cooped  and  confined  any 
more  than  these. 

Principal  Shairp  thus  speaks  of  this  inherent 
quality  of  the  best  poetry — a  quality  which  all 
men  may  apprehend  if  they  will:  "  The  pure 
style  is  that  which,  whether  it  describes  a  scene, 


poetrp  113 

a  character,  or  a  sentiment,  lays  hold  of  its  inner 
meaning,  not  its  surface;  the  type  which  the 
thing  embodies,  not  the  accidents;  the  core  or 
heart  of  it,  not  the  accessories.  .  .  .  Descrip- 
tions of  this  kind,  while  they  convey  typical  con- 
ceptions, yet  retain  perfect  individuality.  They 
are  done  by  a  few  strokes,  in  the  fewest  possible 
words;  but  each  stroke  tells,  each  word  goes 
home.  Of  this  kind  is  the  poetry  of  the  Psalms 
and  of  the  Hebrew  prophets.  It  is  seen  in  the 
brief,  impressive  way  in  which  Dante  presents 
the  heroes  or  heroines  of  his  nether  world,  as 
compared  with  Virgil's  more  elaborate  pictures. 
In  all  of  Wordsworth  that  has  really  impressed 
the  world,  this  will  be  found  to  be  the  chief  char- 
acteristic. It  is  seen  especially  in  his  finest 
lyrics  and  his  most  impressive  sonnets.  Take 
only  three  poems  that  stand  together  in  his 
works:  Glen  Almain,  Stepping  Westward,  The 
Solitary  Reaper.  In  each  you  have  a  scene  and 
its  sentiment  brought  home  with  the  minimum 
of  words,  the  maximum  of  power.  It  is  distinc- 
tive of  the  pure  style  that  it  relies  not  on  side 
eflFects,  but  on  the  total  impression — that  it  pro- 
duces a  unity  in  which  all  the  parts  are  sub- 
ordinated to  one  paramount  aim.     The  imagery 


1 14  Ube  Cbolce  ot  Boolis 

is  appropriate,  never  excessive.  You  are  not  dis- 
tracted by  glaring  single  lines  or  too  splendid 
images.  There  is  one  tone,  and  that  all-pervad- 
ing— reducing  all  the  materials,  however  diverse, 
into  harmony  with  the  one  total  result  designed. 
This  style  in  its  perfection  is  not  to  be  attained 
by  any  rules  of  art.  The  secret  of  it  lies  further 
in  than  rules  of  art  can  reach,  even  in  this:  that 
the  writer  sees  his  object,  and  this  only;  feels  the 
sentiment  of  it,  and  this  only;  is  so  absorbed  in 
it,  lost  in  it,  that  he  altogether  forgets  himself  and 
his  style,  and  cares  only  in  fewest,  most  vital 
words  to  convey  to  others  the  vision  his  own  soul 
sees.  .  .  .  The  ornate  style  in  poetry  is  alto- 
gether different  from  this.  No  doubt  the  multi- 
tude of  uneducated  and  half-educated  readers, 
which  every  day  increases,  loves  a  highly  orna- 
mented, not  to  say  a  meretricious,  style  both  in 
literature  and  in  the  arts;  and  if  these  demand  it, 
writers  and  artists  will  be  found  to  furnish  it. 
There  remains,  therefore,  to  the  most  educated 
the  task  of  counterworking  this  evil.  With  them 
it  lies  to  elevate  the  thought  and  to  purify  the 
taste  of  less  cultivated  readers,  and  so  to  remedy 
one  of  the  evils  incident  to  democracy.  To  high 
thinking    and    noble  living   the   pure   style   is 


poetry  115 

natural.  But  these  things  are  severe ;  require 
moral  bracing ;  minds  not  luxurious  but  which 
can  endure  hardness.  Softness,  self-pleasing, 
and  moral  limpness  find  their  congenial  element 
in  excess  of  highly-coloured  ornamentation.  On 
the  whole,  when  once  a  man  is  master  of  himself 
and  of  his  materials,  the  best  rule  that  can  be 
given  him  is  to  forget  style  altogether,  and  to 
think  only  of  the  reality  to  be  expressed.  The 
more  the  mind  is  intent  on  the  reality,  the  sim- 
pler, truer,  more  telling  the  style  will  be.  The 
advice  which  the  great  preacher  gives  for  conduct 
holds  not  less  for  all  kinds  of  writing:  'Aim  at 
things,  and  your  words  will  be  right  without 
aiming.  Guard  against  love  of  display,  love  of 
singularity,  love  of  seeming  original.  Aim  at 
meaning  what  you  say,  and  saying  what  you 
mean.'  When  a  man  who  is  full  of  his  subject 
and  has  matured  his  powers  of  expression  sets 
himself  to  speak  thus  simply  and  sincerely,  what- 
ever there  is  in  him  of  strength  or  sweetness,  of 
dignity  or  grace,  of  humour  or  pathos,  will  find 
its  way  out  naturally  into  his  language.  That 
language  will  be  true  to  his  thought,  true  to  the 
man  himself." 

How  different  is  such  poetical  language  from 


ii6  Ubc  Cboice  ot  Boofts 

the  poetry  of  the  obscure,  or  the  mock-senti- 
mental, or  the  positively  base!  What  the  Satur- 
day Review  said  of  Byron  is  true  of  many  another 
poet:  "  Even  Byron's  best  passages  will  not  stand 
critical  examination.  They  excite  rather  than 
transport,  and  when  the  reader  examines  seri- 
ously what  he  has  felt,  the  impression  of  a  vague 
contagious  excitement  is  all  that  he  retains.  In 
reading  Byron,  the  reader  dimly  feels  that  he  is 
in  the  presence  of  a  very  eloquent  person  who  is, 
or  would  like  to  be  thought,  in  a  state  of  great 
excitement  about  something,  and  that  it  is  his 
duty  to  become  excited  too." 

True  poetry  has  a  far  nobler  mission  than  to 
puzzle,  or  to  amuse,  or  to  excite;  it  is  the  voice 
of  all  that  is  best  in  humanity,  speaking  from 
man  to  man.  Not  all  of  us  can  thus  speak,  but 
we  all  can  listen  to  the  poet's  song,  and  incorpo- 
rate his  message  in  our  best  and  truest  life,  day 
by  day. 

These  remarks  apply,  of  course,  to  the  best  of 
literature  in  any  form  ;  but  poetry  has  been,  on 
the  whole,  the  quintessence  of  literature.  The 
prose  tale,  indeed,  has  become  for  the  twentieth 
century,  in  its  soul  and  in  its  form,  what  poetry 
was  for  the  early  years  of  the  nineteenth;  but 


poetr)?  117 

when  we  look  at  the  books  of  the  past  we  see  that 
authors,  when  they  have  wished  to  express  them- 
selves with  pecuhar  elevation,  or  strength,  or  pas- 
sion, or  beauty,  have  naturally  turned  to  verse. 
"Have  you  ever  rightly  considered,"  says  Lowell, 
"  what  the  mere  ability  to  read  means  ?  That  it 
is  the  key  which  admits  us  to  the  whole  world  of 
thought  and  fancy  and  imagination  ?  to  the  com- 
pany of  saint  and  sage,  of  the  wisest  and  the 
wittiest  at  their  wisest  and  wittiest  moment  ? 
That  it  enables  us  to  see  with  the  keenest  eyes, 
hear  with  the  finest  ears,  and  listen  to  the  sweet- 
est voices  of  all  time  ?  More  than  that,  it  annihi- 
lates time  and  space  for  us;  it  revives  for  us 
without  a  miracle  the  Age  of  Wonder."  To 
listen  to  the  sweetest  voices  of  all  time — that  is 
the  perennial  privilege  of  the  reader  of  poetry, 
especially  if,  like  the  men  and  women  of  a  wiser 
generation  than  ours,  he  memorises  it. 

In  the  opinion  of  John  Morley,  "  the  great 
need  in  modern  culture,  which  is  scientific  in 
method,  rationalistic  in  spirit,  and  utilitarian  in 
purpose,  is  to  find  some  eflfective  agency  for  cher- 
ishing within  us  the  ideal.  That  is,  I  take  it, 
the  business  and  function  of  literature.  .  .  . 
After  all,  the  thing  that  matters  most,  both  for 


ii8  XTbe  Cboice  of  IBoohs 

happiness  and  for  duty,  is  that  we  should  habitu- 
ally live  with  wise  thoughts  and  right  feelings. 
Literature  helps  us  more  than  other  studies  to 
this  most  blessed  companionship." 

To  cherish  the  ideal  within  us;  to  live  with 
wise  thoughts  and  right  feelings — that  is  what 
the  best  poets  ask  of  us,  and  unweariedly  they 
proffer  their  aid  toward  this  noble  end.  "The 
poet  in  showing  the  individual  must  suggest  the 
universal,  in  speaking  of  the  seen  must  seem  to 
speak  also  of  the  unseen,  must  deal  with  time  as 
if  he  touched  eternity."  ' 

'  J.  C.  Bailey,  The  Anglo-Saxon  Review,  March,  190 1. 


THE  ART  OF  SKIPPING 

IT  is  a  fortunate  thing  that  one  of  the  most 
hackneyed  quotations  concerning  books  and 
reading  should  also  be  one  of  the  most  sensi- 
ble: Lord  Bacon's  saying  that  "  Some  books  are 
to  be  tasted,  others  to  be  swallowed,  and  some 
few  to  be  chewed  and  digested;  that  is,  some 
books  are  to  be  read  only  in  parts;  others  to  be 
read,  but  not  curiously;  and  some  few  to  be  read 
wholly,  and  with  diligence  and  attention." 

Following  this  piece  of  advice  has  done  a  great 
deal  of  good;  and  no  harm  is  likely  to  come  from 
its  wise  observance.  Some  people  profess  to  be- 
lieve that  a  book  that  is  worth  reading  at  all  is 
worth  reading  straight  through, — a  piece  of  fool- 
ishness that  would  be  paralleled  by  an  insistence 
upon  eating  a  tableful  every  time  one  sits  down 
to  a  meal.  A  person  who  makes  up  his  mind  to 
read  all  of  a  book  or  none  must  be  fully  con- 
vinced of  the  solemn  truth  of  the  saying  that  "  a 
book  's  a  book,  although  there  's  nothing  in  't." 
Against  such  lack  of  wisdom  the  sturdy  common- 
119 


I20  Zbc  Cbofce  of  IBoofts 

sense  of  I^ord  Bacon's  remark  may  be  put.  The 
reader  need  but  rest  assured  of  its  unquestionable 
truth,  and  spend  his  time  in  trying  to  discover 
what  books  are  to  be  tasted,  what  swallowed,  and 
.what  digested,  rather  than  vex  his  soul  in  ques- 
tioning whether  the  general  advice  is  sound  or 
not. 

A  book  that  is  worth  reading  all  through  is 
pretty  sure  to  make  its  worth  known.  There  is 
something  in  the  literary  conscience  which  tells  a 
reader  whether  he  is  wasting  his  time  or  not. 
An  hour  or  a  minute  may  be  sufi&cient  opportu- 
nity for  forming  a  decision  concerning  the  worth 
or  worthlessness  of  the  book.  If  it  is  utterly  bad 
and  valueless,  then  skip  the  whole  of  it,  as  soon 
as  you  have  made  the  discovery.  If  a  part  is 
good  and  a  part  bad,  accept  the  one  and  reject 
the  other.  If  you  are  in  doubt,  take  warning  at 
the  first  intimation  that  you  are  misspending 
your  opportunity  and  frittering  away  your  time 
over  an  unprofitable  book.  Reading  that  is  of 
questionable  value  is  not  hard  to  find  out;  it 
bears  its  notes  and  marks  in  unmistakable  plain- 
ness, and  it  puts  forth,  all  unwittingly,  danger 
signals  of  which  the  reader  should  take  heed. 

The  art  of  skipping  is,  in  a  word,  the  art  of 


Ube  art  ot  Shipping  121 

noting  and  shunning  that  which  is  bad,  or  frivo- 
lous, or  misleading,  or  unsuitable  for  one's  indi- 
vidual needs.  If  you  are  convinced  that  the 
book  or  chapter  is  bad,  you  cannot  drop  it  too 
quickly.  If  it  is  simply  idle  and  foolish,  put  it 
away  on  that  account, — unless  you  are  properly 
seeking  amusement  from  idleness  and  frivolity. 
If  it  is  deceitful  and  disingenuous,  your  task  is 
not  so  easy,  but  your  literary  conscience  will  give 
you  warning,  and  the  sharp  examination  which 
should  follow  will  tell  you  that  you  are  in  poor 
literary  company. 

But  there  are  a  great  many  books  which  are 
good  in  themselves,  and  yet  are  not  good  at  all 
times  or  for  all  readers.  No  book,  indeed,  is  of 
universal  value  and  appropriateness.  As  has 
been  said  in  previous  chapters  of  this  series,  the 
individual  must  always  dare  to  remember  that  he 
has  his  own  legitimate  tastes  and  wants,  and  that 
it  is  improper  to  permit  them  to  be  overruled  by 
the  tastes  and  wants  of  others.  It  is  right  for 
one  to  neglect  entirely,  or  to  skip  through,  pages 
which  another  should  study  again  and  again. 
Let  each  reader  unconsciously  ask  himself :  Why 
am  I  reading  this?  What  service  will  it  be  to 
me  ?  Am  I  neglecting  something  else  that  would 


TTbe  Cboice  ot  Boohs 


be  more  benej&cial  ?  Here,  as  in  every  other 
question  involved  in  the  choice  of  books,  the 
golden  key  to  knowledge,  a  key  that  will  only  fit 
its  own  proper  doors,  is  purpose. 

Thus  the  reader  is  the  pupil  and  the  companion 
and  the  fellow-worker  of  the  author,  not  his  slave. 
"  It  is  a  wise  book  that  is  good  from  title-page  to 
the  end,"  says  A.  Bronson  Alcott.  Such  a  book 
should  be  read  through;  but  the  books  that  are 
wise  in  spots  should  be  read  in  spots.  Again, 
Mr.  Alcott  says:  "  I  value  books  for  their  sug- 
gestiveness  even  more  than  for  the  information 
they  may  contain; — volumes  that  may  be  taken 
in  hand  and  laid  aside,  read  at  odd  moments, 
containing  sentences  that  take  possession  of  my 
thought  and  prompt  to  the  following  of  them  into 
their  wider  relations  with  life  and  things."  This 
suggestiveness  of  books  read  at  odd  moments  is 
one  of  the  great  advantages  of  judicious  skip- 
ping. From  this  habit  comes,  often,  a  riper  and 
wholesomer  harvest  than  would  spring  from  the 
most  painstaking  devotion  to  regulated  and 
routine  reading  and  study.  One  page,  one  sen- 
tence, thus  planted  in  the  fertile  soil  of  a  receptive 
mind,  is  better  than  a  whole  library  read  from  a 
mere  sense  of  duty,   and  without  reference  to 


XLbc  Hrt  of  Sftipplna  123 

one's  own  true  welfare,  as  indicated  by  his  nature 
and  his  needs. 

No  one  thus  wisely  choosing  what  he  may  best 
read  is  in  any  danger  of  becoming  a  superficial 
reader.  "  Did  you  ever  happen  to  see,"  asks  a 
writer  whose  name  I  have  unfortunately  lost, — 
"did  you  ever  happen  to  see,  in  shrewd  old 
hard-headed  Bishop  Whately's  annotations  on 
Lord  Bacon's  essays,  a  good  passage  about  what 
is  and  what  is  not  superficiality?  It  is  in  the 
sentence  in  Bacon's  Essay  on  Studies,  '  Crafty 
men  contemn  studies.'  This  contempt,  says  the 
bishop,  '  whether  of  crafty  men  or  narrow-minded 
men,  finds  its  expression  in  the  word  smattering,' 
and  the  couplet  is  become  almost  a  proverb : 

"  '  A  little  learning  is  a  dangerous  thing : 
Drink  deep,  or  taste  not  the  Pierian  spring.' 

But  the  poet's  remedies  for  the  dangers  of  a  little 
learning  are  both  of  them  impossible.  No  one 
can  drink  deep  enough  to  be  in  truth  anything 
more  than  superficial;  and  every  human  being 
that  is  not  a  downright  idiot  must  taste.  And 
the  bishop,  in  his  downright  way,  goes  on  to  give 
practical  illustrations  of  the  usefulness  of  a  little 
knowledge,  and  proceeds:    '  What,  then,   is  the 


124  Ube  Cboicc  of  3Boohs 

smattering,  the  imperfect  and  superficial  know- 
ledge that  does  deserve  contempt  ?  A  slight  and 
superficial  knowledge  is  justly  condemned  when 
it  is  put  in  the  place  of  more  full  and  exact  know- 
ledge. Such  an  acquaintance  with  chemistry 
and  anatomy,  for  instance,  as  would  be  creditable 
and  not  useless  to  a  lawyer,  would  be  contempt- 
ible for  a  physician;  and  such  an  acquaintance 
with  law  as  would  be  desirable  for  him,  would  be 
a  most  discreditable  smattering  for  a  lawyer,'  " 

Hamerton  has  some  good  words  on  this  subject: 
"  It  becomes  a  necessary  part,"  says  he,  **  of  the 
art  of  intellectual  living,  so  to  order  our  work  as 
to  shield  ourselves  if  possible,  at  least  during  a 
certain  portion  of  our  time,  from  the  evil  conse- 
quences of  hurry.  The  whole  secret  lies  in  a 
single  word — selection.  .  .  .  The  art  is  to 
select  the  reading  which  will  be  most  useful  to 
our  purpose,  and,  in  writing,  to  select  the  words 
which  will  express  our  meaning  with  the  greatest 
clearness  in  a  little  space.  The  art  of  reading  is 
to  skip  judiciously.  Whole  libraries  may  be 
skipped  in  these  days,  when  we  have  the  results 
of  them  in  our  modem  culture  without  going 
over  the  ground  again.  And  even  of  the  books 
we  decide  to  read,  there  are  almost  always  large 


tCbe  art  ot  Shtpping  125 

portions  which  do  not  concern  us,  and  which  we 
are  sure  to  forget  the  day  after  we  have  read 
them.  The  art  is  to  skip  all  that  does  not  con- 
cern us,  whilst  missing  nothing  that  we  really 
need.  No  external  guidance  can  teach  us  this; 
for  nobody  but  ourselves  can  guess  what  the 
needs  of  our  intellect  may  be.  But  let  us  select 
with  decisive  firmness,  independently  of  other 
people's  advice,  independently  of  the  authority 
of  custom.*' 

Of  course  it  follows  that,  to  some  extent,  we 
can  let  others  do  the  work  of  selection  for  us, 
subject  to  correction  whenever  necessary.  "  In 
comparing  the  number  of  good  books  with  the 
shortness  of  life,  many  might  well  be  read  by 
proxy,  if  we  had  good  proxies,"  says  Emerson. 
Sensible  literary  guides  must  be  followed  to  a 
large  extent,  whether  in  their  recommendation  of 
one  book  as  against  another,  or  of  certain  poems 
or  prose  extracts  in  comparison  with  others. 
Books  of  selection,  it  is  true,  sometimes  omit 
things  we  would  have  greatly  liked;  but  who  will 
pretend  to  say  that  he  always  finds  everything 
that  would  have  pleased  or  profited  him,  even 
when  he  makes  his  own  choice  ?  As  no  worker 
in  any  field  of  labour  cau,  in  this  social  world, 


126  Zbc  Cboice  ot  asoofts 

dispense  with  the  help  of  others,  so  it  is  especially 
necessary  for  readers  to  follow  the  guidance  of 
pioneers  and  wise  critics,  and  to  make  use  of  the 
selections  these  critics  have  made,  as  well  as  their 
indication  of  whole  books.  And  sometimes,  as 
Emerson's  remark  (which  follows  Bacon's  "  Some 
books  may  be  read  by  deputy,  and  extracts  from 
them  made  by  others")  shows  us,  we  may  not 
only  delegate  to  others  the  work  of  choice  and 
selection,  but  also  that  of  reading  itself. 


THE  USE  OF  TRANSI.ATIONS 

A  FEW  words  concerning  the  use  of  transla- 
tions of  the  masterpieces  of  other  lan- 
guages may  properly  be  given  here, 
because  it  is  a  subject  concerning  which  most 
guides  to  reading  have  nothing  whatever  to  say 
and  to  which  the  majority  of  intelligent  readers, 
even,  have  given  very  little  thought.  Great  as  is 
the  neglect  of  good  reading  in  one's  own  lan- 
guage, still  greater  is  the  lack  of  attention  to 
English  translations  of  the  noble  books  of  other 
literatures  than  our  own. 

An  intelligent  comprehension  of  one's  needs  in 
the  choice  of  books  should  certainly  include  due 
attention  to  the  literature  of  France,  or  Germany, 
or  Italy,  or  Greece,  or  Spain; — or,  in  other  words, 
such  a  comprehension  should  never  forget  that 
good  literature  is  not  an  insular  affair,  bounded 
by  the  limits  of  one  country,  or  by  the  letters  of 
one  language.  Of  course  it  is  both  natural  and 
proper  that  the  greater  part  of  our  reading  should 
be  of  books  of  American  or  English  authorship; 
127 


128  XTbe  Cboice  of  Boofts 

but  our  culture  and  training  will  be  greatly  im- 
poverished if,  because  of  a  partial  or  complete 
unfamiliarity  with  the  languages  in  which  they 
wrote,  we  take  no  account  of  Homer,  Virgil, 
Dante,  Cervantes,  Goethe,  Hugo. 

Speaking  in  general  terms,  the  entire  body  of 
the  best  literature  of  other  lands  is  accessible  in 
adequate  English  translations.  And  of  the  use 
which  may  be  made  of  them,  let  Emerson  speak, 
in  one  of  the  most  familiar  passages  of  his  essay 
on  books:  "The  respectable  and  sometimes  ex- 
cellent translations  of  Bohn's  lyibrary  have  done 
for  literature  what  railroads  have  done  for  in- 
ternal intercourse.  I  do  not  hesitate  to  read 
all  the  books  I  have  named,  and  all  good  books, 
in  translations.  What  is  really  best  in  any  book 
is  translatable — any  real  insight  or  broad  human 
sentiment.  Nay,  I  observe  that,  in  our  Bible, 
and  other  books  of  lofty  moral  tone,  it  seems  easy 
and  inevitable  to  render  the  rhythm  and  music 
of  the  original  into  phrases  of  equal  melody.  The 
Italians  have  a  fling  at  translators — i  traditori 
traduttori ;  but  I  thank  them.  I  rarely  read  any 
Greek,  Latin,  German,  Italian,  sometimes  not  a 
French  book,  in  the  original,  which  I  can  pro- 
cure in  a  good  version.     I  like  to  be  beholden  to 


XTbe  Xttse  ot  XTransIations         129 

the  great  metropolitan  English  speech,  the  sea 
which  receives  tributaries  from  every  region  under 
heaven.  I  should  as  soon  think  of  swimming 
across  Charles  River  when  I  wish  to  go  to  Bos- 
ton, as  of  reading  all  my  books  in  originals,  when 
1  have  them  rendered  for  me  in  my  mother- 
tongue." 

If  such  a  man  as  Emerson  thus  recognises  the 
utility  of  translations,  surely  the  average  reader 
cannot  afford  to  ignore  them;  whether  from  his 
feeling  that  he  must  read  books  in  the  original  or 
not  at  all,  or  because  he  carelessly  permits  him- 
self to  forget  that  vast  land  which  lies  beyond  the 
bounds  of  his  immediate  literary  horizon. 

Mr.  Emerson  was  one  of  the  scholarly  men  of 
his  age;  an  author  who  in  an  especial  degree 
made  the  wisdom  of  all  times  pay  tribute  to  him. 
If  any  contemporary  writer  could  properly  be 
"  above  "  reading  translations,  he  might  be  sup- 
posed to  be  that  one;  and  yet  he  took  advanced 
ground  in  the  matter,  and  spoke  ten  times  as 
boldly  as  a  mere  village  pedant  would  dare  to 
speak.  Let  us  also  hear  what  Hamerton  has  to 
say  on  the  same  subject — bearing  in  mind  that 
his  testimony  is  of  special  value,  because  he 
might  well  be  thought  likely  to  take  exactly  the 


13°  XCbe  Cboice  ot  3Boohs 

contrary  view,  inasmuch  as  he  lived  in  France 
and  England,  and  used  the  French  and  English 
languages  with  absolute  indifiference.  He  says: 
"  Mature  life  brings  so  many  professional  or  so- 
cial duties  that  it  leaves  scant  time  for  culture, 
and  those  who  care  for  culture  most  earnestly  and 
sincerely  are  the  very  persons  who  will  econo- 
mise time  to  the  utmost.  Now,  to  read  a  lan- 
guage that  has  been  very  imperfectly  mastered  is 
felt  to  be  a  bad  economy  of  time.  Suppose  the 
case  of  a  man  occupied  in  business  who  has 
studied  Greek  rather  assiduously  in  youth  and 
yet  not  enough  to  read  Plato  with  facility.  He 
can  read  the  original,  but  he  reads  it  so  slowly 
that  it  would  cost  him  more  hours  than  he  can 
spare,  and  this  is  why  he  has  recourse  to  a  trans- 
lation. In  this  case  there  is  no  indifference  to 
Greek  culture;  on  the  contrary,  the  reader  desires 
to  assimilate  what  he  can  of  it,  but  the  very 
earnestness  of  his  wish  to  have  free  access  to 
ancient  thought  makes  him  prefer  it  in  modern 
language." 

Hamerton  also  points  out  eflFectively  that  even 
an  intelligent  and  apparently  deep  study  of  an- 
other language  may  not  bring  with  it  an  insight 
into  its  spirit,  or  a  true  knowledge  of  its  richest 


XTbe  "Clse  of  ^Translations         131 

treasures:  "Suppose  a  society  of  Frenchmen, 
in  some  secluded  little  French  village,  where 
no  Englishman  ever  penetrates,  and  that  these 
Frenchmen  learn  English  irom  dictionaries,  and 
set  themselves  to  speak  English  with  each  other, 
without  anybody  to  teach  them  the  colloquial 
language  or  its  pronunciation,  without  ever  once 
hearing  the  sound  of  it  from  English  lips,  what 
sort  of  English  would  they  create  among  them- 
selves ?  This  is  a  question  that  I  happen  to  be 
able  to  answer  very  accurately,  because  I  have 
known  two  Frenchmen  who  studied  English  liter- 
ature just  as  the  Frenchmen  of  the  sixteenth 
century  studied  the  literature  of  ancient  Rome. 
One  of  them,  especially,  had  attained  what  would 
certainly  in  the  case  of  a  dead  language  be  con- 
sidered a  very  high  degree  of  scholarship  indeed. 
Most  of  our  great  authors  were  known  to  him, 
even  down  to  the  close  critical  comparison  of  dif- 
ferent readings.  Aided  by  the  most  powerful 
memory  I  ever  knew,  he  had  amassed  such  stores 
that  the  acquisitions  even  of  cultivated  English- 
men would  in  many  cases  have  appeared  incon- 
siderable beside  them.  But  he  could  not  write  or 
speak  English  in  a  manner  tolerable  to  an  Eng- 
lishman;  and  although  he  knew  nearly  all  the 


132  XTbe  Cbolce  of  JBoohs 

words  in  the  language,  it  was  dictionary  know- 
ledge, and  so  diflferent  from  an  Englishman's 
apprehension  of  the  same  words  that  it  was 
only  a  sort  of  pseudo-Knglish  that  he  knew,  and 
not  our  living  tongue.  His  appreciation  of  our 
authors,  especially  our  poets,  differed  so  widely 
from  English  criticism  and  feeling  that  it  was 
evident  that  he  did  not  understand  them  as  we 
understand  them.  Two  things  especially  proved 
this  :  he  frequently  mistook  declamatory  versifica- 
tion for  poetry  of  an  elevated  order;  whilst,  on 
the  other  hand,  his  ear  failed  to  perceive  the 
music  of  the  musical  poets,  as  Byron  and  Tenny- 
son. How  could  he  hear  their  music,  he  to  whom 
our  English  sounds  were  all  unknown?  Here, 
for  example,  is  the  way  he  read  Claribel  : 

"  At  ev  ze  bittle  bommess 

Azvart  ze  zeeket  Ion 
At  none  ze  veeld  be  ommess 

A  boot  ze  most  edston 
At  meedneeg  ze  mon  commess 

An  lokez  dovn  alon 
Ere  songg  ze  lintveet  svelless 
Ze  clirvoiced  mavi  dvelless 

Ze  fledgling  srost  lispess 
Ze  slombroos  vav  ootvelless 

Ze  babblang  ronnel  creespess 
Ze  oUov  grot  replee-ess 
Vere  Claribel  lovlee-ess." 


Ube  TDlse  of  translations         133 

Plainly,  then,  "  liberally  educated  "  people,  as 
such,  have  no  right  to  aflfect  superiority  over  those 
persons  who  venture  to  assert  that  English  trans- 
lations of  foreign  works  are  not  only  permissible 
reading,  but  that  they  sometimes  convey  a  far  bet- 
ter idea  of  foreign  literature  than  may  be  obtained 
from  any  save  the  most  complete  and  successful 
study  of  other  tongues.  The  average  college 
graduate  is  almost  certain  to  be  a  mere  baby  in 
his  knowledge  of  the  ancient  and  modern  litera- 
ture of  Europe,  though  he  may  have  professed  to 
study  Latin  six  or  seven  years,  Greek  four  or  five 
years,  and  French  and  German  scarcely  less.  Of 
this  study,  fully  nine-tenths  has  been  of  gram- 
matical forms,  and  etymological  niceties,  and 
syntactical  constructions;  and  his  translating  has 
been  done  by  piecemeal,  in  such  a  way  as  to  de- 
stroy pretty  effectually  all  idea  of  the  largeness 
and  noble  quality  of  the  text  in  hand — and  still 
more  of  the  literature  of  which  that  text  is  a  part. 
Etymology  is  not  literature;  syntax  is  not  litera- 
ture; the  conjugation  of  a  verb  is  not  literature. 
They  may  or  may  not  be  the  gateways  of  an 
adequate  knowledge  of  literature; — more  often 
they  are  not,  in  our  usual  scheme  of  college  edu- 
cation.    Whatever  advantages  may  be  derived 


134  XTbe  Cboice  ot  BooKs 

from  the  grammatical  study  of  a  language — and 
they  are  great,  perhaps  essential — the  student 
should  not  imagine  that  grammatical  study,  un- 
supplemented  by  something  more,  is  literary 
study.  I  am  not  decrying  grammar.  I  am  only 
saying  that  philology  is  one  thing,  and  a  know- 
ledge of  the  spirit  and  life  of  a  foreign  literature 
is  quite  another  thing.  There  are  old  and  emi- 
nent colleges  at  the  North  which  do  far  less  toward 
leading  their  students  toward  the  literatures  of 
their  own  and  other  languages  than  is  done  by 
more  than  one  small  and  feeble  institution  at  the 
West  or  South.  So  far  as  literary  culture  is  con- 
cerned, then,  these  venerable  and  illustrious  col- 
leges are  failures,  and  these  new  and  feebly 
equipped  "universities"  of  newer  communities 
are  successes.  An  institution  of  learning  which 
fetters  its  classes  in  chains  whose  links  are  mere 
grammatical  niceties  is  not  to  be  accounted  a 
literary  institution  at  all,  in  comparison  with  one 
which  directs  its  students  to  the  fair  fields  of 
belles-lettres,  and  strives  to  imbue  them  with  the 
idea  that  the  spirit  and  life  of  Homer  is  some- 
thing beyond  and  above  the  anatomy  of  the 
Greek  verb. 
Every   reader,    whether   college  bred  or  not, 


ZTbe  "Clse  ot  Tlranslations         135 

whether  he  can  read  his  Bible  in  half  a  dozen 
languages  or  in  English  alone,  should  therefore 
remember  that  it  is  his  bounden  duty  to  know 
somewhat  of  the  world's  literature.  If  he  can 
know  it  at  first  hand,  in  the  original  tongue,  so 
much  the  better;  but  if,  as  must  usually  happen,  . 
he  must  look  to  English  translations,  let  him  not 
forget  that  a  Keats,  who  knew  not  a  word  of 
Greek,  got  nearer  the  heart  of  Greek  literature 
than  a  hundred  Porsons  could  ever  do. 


HOW  TO  READ  PERIODICAivS 

IT  is,  of  course,  unadvisable  to  attempt  to 
regulate  one's  plans  of  reading  with  the  in- 
tention of  leaving  out  newspapers  and  other 
periodicals,  as  "  wastes  of  time."  No  doubt  the 
average  book  is  more  profitable  reading  than  the 
average  copy  of  a  newspaper;  but  it  by  no  means 
follows  that  the  best  book  is  at  all  times  a  better 
thing  to  read  than  the  best  newspaper.  In  this 
age  of  many  periodicals,  a  large  share  of  the  best 
literature  first  appears  in  them;  and,  aside  from 
literature  proper,  one's  scheme  of  reading  is  defect- 
ive if  it  takes  no  account  of  the  news  of  the  day. 
A  reader  has  no  right  to  be  well  acquainted  with 
ancient  history,  or  with  the  treasures  of  poetry  or 
romance,  if  such  acquaintance  has  been  pur- 
chased at  the  price  of  ignorance  of  the  great 
events  and  the  leading  principles  of  contemporary 
life. 

In  Hamerton's  Intellectual  Life — a  book  from 
which  I  have  already  quoted  so  many  times  as  to 
show  my  appreciation  of  it  as  a  sensible  helper 
136 


Uow  to  IReaD  iperioMcals         137 

to  sound  habits  of  mental  regimen  on  the  part  of 
the  average  reader — is  a  chapter  addressed  "  to 
a  friend  (highly  cultivated)  who  congratulated 
himself  on  having  entirely  abandoned  the  habit 
of  reading  newspapers."  Mr.  Hamerton  admits 
that  this  friend  will  have  a  definite  gain  to  show 
for  whatever  may  be  his  loss;  and  that  some  five 
hundred  hours  a  year  will  be  saved  to  him  as  a 
time-income  which  may  be  applied  to  whatever 
purpose  he  may  select.  "  In  those  five  hundred 
hours,"  says  he  to  his  friend,  "  which  are  now 
your  own,  you  may  acquire  a  science,  or  obtain  a 
more  perfect  command  over  one  of  the  languages 
which  you  have  studied.  Some  department  of 
your  intellectual  labours  which  has  hitherto  been 
unsatisfactory  to  you,  because  it  was  too  imper- 
fectly cultivated,  may  henceforth  be  as  orderly 
and  as  fruitful  as  a  well-kept  garden.  You  may 
become  thoroughly  conversant  with  the  works 
of  more  than  one  great  author  whom  you  have 
neglected,  not  from  lack  of  interest,  but  for  want 
of  time."  But  against  these  gains  must  be  set 
the  loss  of  political  and  social  intelligence;  of  the 
ability  to  deal  with  the  practical  questions  of  the 
life  in  which  one  lives;  and  of  a  large  part  of 
that  community  of  knowledge  which  is  so  essen- 


138  TTbe  Cboice  of  JBoofts 

tial  to  the  right  development  of  a  mind  and  of  a 
character.  In  a  word,  total  abstinence  from  the 
reading  of  periodicals  must  make  a  person  to 
some  extent  both  ignorant  and  selfish.  "  He 
who  has  not  learned  to  read  his  daily  news- 
paper," says  W.  P.  Atkinson,  "  will  hardly  read 
Gibbon  and  Grote  to  any  purpose ;  he  who  can- 
not see  history  in  the  streets  of  Boston  will 
trouble  himself  to  no  purpose  with  books  about 
Rome  or  Pompeii." 

Admitting  thus  the  utility  of  the  reading  of 
periodicals,  and  even  insisting  upon  the  necessity 
and  duty  of  reading  them,  it  must  nevertheless  be 
recognised  that  an  alarming  amount  of  time  is 
wasted  over  them,  or  worse  than  wasted.  When 
we  have  determined  that  newspapers  and  maga- 
zines ought  to  be  read,  let  us  by  no  means  flatter 
ourselves  that  all  our  reading  of  them  is  com- 
mendable or  justifiable.  I  am  quite  safe  in  say- 
ing that  the  individual  who  happens  to  be  reading 
these  lines  wastes  more  than  half  the  time  that 
he  devotes  to  periodicals;  and  that  he  wastes  it 
because  he  does  not  regulate  that  time  as  he 
ought.  "  To  learn  to  choose  what  is  valuable 
and  to  skip  the  rest "  is  a  good  rule  tor  reading 
periodicals;    and  it  is  a  rule  whose  observance 


f)ow  to  1Rea&  perfoMcals         139 

will  reduce  by  fully  one  half  the  time  devoted  to 
them,  and  will  save  time  and  strength  for  better 
intellectual  employments, — to  say  nothing  of  the 
important  fact  that  discipline  in  this  line  will  pre- 
vent the  reader  from  falling  into  that  demoralis- 
ing and  altogether  disgraceful  inability  to  hold 
the  mind  upon  any  continuous  subject  of  thought 
or  study,  which  is  pretty  sure  to  follow  in  the 
train  of  undue  or  thoughtless  reading  of  periodi- 
cals. And  when,  as  too  often  happens,  a  man 
comes  to  read  nothing  save  his  morning  paper  at 
breakfast  or  on  the  train,  and  his  evening  paper 
after  his  day's  work  is  over,  that  man's  brain,  so 
far  as  reading  is  concerned,  is  only  half  alive.  It 
cannot  carry  on  a  long  train  of  thought  or  study; 
it  notes  superficial  things  rather  than  inner  prin- 
ciples; it  seeks  to  be  amused  or  stimulated,  rather 
than  to  be  instructed. 

How,  then,  shall  we  set  to  work  to  put  in  prac- 
tice the  important  truth  that  "  one  should  use  the 
newspaper  as  a  servant  and  not  as  a  master  "  ? 

In  the  first  place,  many  periodicals  are  not 
worth  reading  at  all.  They  neither  instruct  nor 
profitably  amuse.  If  not  avowedly  addressed  to 
the  semi-criminal  class,  they  assume  that  their 
readers  are  chiefly  interested  in  murders,  divorces, 


140  Ubc  Cbotce  of  3Boofts 

and  court-room  proceedings.  In  their  columns 
any  real  apprehension  of  the  nobility  and  beauty 
of  life  seems  lacking,  save  when  some  clergyman 
or  moralist  is  induced  to  write  a  signed  article  for 
the  editorial  page.  The  habitual  reading  of  such 
papers  is  enough,  in  itself,  to  lower  one's  intelli- 
gence and  moral  sense,  and  to  keep  them  low. 
These  are  strong  words;  but  if  the  reading  of 
certain  papers  I  could  name,  and  which  my  read- 
ers could  na;me,  does  not  have  this  eflfect,  it  is  due 
to  the  reader  rather  than  to  the  newspaper. 

In  the  reading  of  papers  which  are  worthy  of 
being  read,  we  should  bring  every  article  or  item, 
so  far  as  may  be,  before  the  tribunal  of  our  intel- 
lectual conscience,  and  demand  of  it  what  is  its 
purpose,  and  what  its  utility  to  ourselves.  If  a 
thing  is  useless  to  us,  then  we  may  advanta- 
geously let  it  alone.  A  paper  or  a  magazine  is 
not  all  for  everj^body;  some  things  in  it  are  for 
you,  some  for  me,  some  for  others.  We  can  readily 
tell  what  belongs  to  us  and  what  to  somebody 
else.  Again,  in  the  things  which  we  may  prop- 
erly read,  we  should  bear  it  in  mind  not  to  exceed 
the  proper  proportion  of  time  to  be  devoted  to  a 
particular  subject.  It  is  often  enough  to  know 
that  an  event  has  taken  place,  without  reading 


■fcow  to  IReaO  iperioMcals        141 

all  the  particulars.  Newspapers  are  pretty  sure 
to  violate  the  true  perspective  of  events,  and 
their  violation  of  perspective  we  must  correct  for 
ourselves.  Some  of  the  best  of  our  Saturday  or 
Sunday  dailies,  with  thirty  or  forty  pages  of 
really  excellent  reading  matter,  need  to  be 
watched  on  the  ground  that  their  ' '  history  of  the 
world  for  one  day  ' '  is  dangerously  diffuse. 

James  Russell  lyowell  used  to  say  to  his  life- 
long friend  Charles  F.  Briggs  that  the  reading 
of  a  certain  daily  newspaper  gave  him  all  he 
cared  to  know  about  current  events.  Such  a 
daily — or  one  of  the  best  weeklies  still  made  up 
from  the  cream  of  seven  daily  issues — is  enough; 
and  it  need  not  demand,  for  its  intelligent  perusal, 
more  than  half  an  hour  a  day.  Skip  crimes, 
athletic  news,  and  unimportant  local  ' '  intelli- 
gence," and  you  reduce  the  contents  of  even  the 
best  of  our  newspapers  from  one  third  to  one 
half.  Mr.  Lowell,  in  a  later  utterance,  the  sense 
of  which  excuses  his  inevitable  mixture  of  meta- 
phors, said:  "We  are  apt  to  wonder  at  the 
scholarship  of  the  men  of  three  centuries  ago  and 
at  a  certain  dignity  of  phrase  that  characterises 
them.  They  were  scholars  because  they  did  not  i 
read  so  many  things  as  we.     They  had   fewer! 


142  Ube  Cboice  of  3Boofts 

books,  but  these  were  of  the  best.  Their  speech 
was  noble,  because  they  lunched  with  Plutarch 
and  supped  with  Plato.  We  spend  as  much  time 
over  print  as  they  did,  but  instead  of  communing 
with  the  choice  thoughts  of  choice  spirits,  and 
unconsciously  acquiring  the  grand  manner  of  that 
supreme  society,  we  diligently  inform  ourselves, 
and  cover  the  continent  with  a  cobweb  of  tele- 
graphs to  inform  us,  of  such  inspiring  facts  as 
that  a  horse  belonging  to  Mr.  Smith  ran  away  on 
Wednesday,  seriously  damaging  a  valuable  carry- 
all; that  a  son  of  Mr.  Brown  swallowed  a  hickory 
nut  on  Thursday;  and  that  a  gravel  bank  caved 
in  and  buried  Mr.  Robinson  alive  on  Friday. 
Alas,  it  is  we  ourselves  that  are  getting  buried 
alive  under  this  avalanche  of  earthy  impertinence! 
It  is  we  who,  while  we  might  each  in  his  humble 
way  be  helping  our  fellows  into  the  right  path, 
or  adding  one  block  to  the  climbing  spire  of  a 
fine  soul,  are  willing  to  become  mere  sponges 
saturated  from  the  stagnant  goose-pond  of  village 
gossip.  This  is  the  kind  of  news  we  compass 
the  globe  to  catch,  fresh  from  Bungtown  Centre, 
when  we  might  have  it  fresh  from  heaven  by  the 
electric  lines  of  poet  or  prophet !  It  is  bad 
enough  that  we  should  be  compelled  to  know  so 


Dow  to  1Rea&  ©edoMcals         143 

many  nothings,  but  it  is  downright  intolerable 
that  we  must  wash  so  many  barrow-loads  of 
gravel  to  find  a  grain  of  mica  after  all.  And 
then  to  be  told  that  the  ability  to  read  makes  us 
all  shareholders  in  the  Bonanza  Mine  of  Univer- 
sal Intelligence! " 

Tolstoi,  late  in  life,  gave  up  the  reading  of  all 
periodicals,  saying:  "While  familiar  with  our, 
newspapers,  we  neglect  the  real  pabulum  of  liter- 
ature." Thus,  in  the  first  two  months  of  absti- 
nence, he  read  from  ' '  Marcus  Aurelius,  Epictetus, 
Xenophanes,  Socrates,  Brahman,  Chinese  and 
Buddhist  wisdom,  Seneca,  Plutarch,  Cicero,  and, 
of  the  moderns,  Montesquieu,  Rousseau,  Voltaire, 
Lessing,  Kant,  Ivichtenberg,  Schopenhauer,  Em- 
erson, Channing,  Parker,  Ruskin,  and  others." 

One  valuable  help  toward  reducing  the  time 
we  spend  over  newspapers  is  to  keep  in  check  the 
attention  we  are  all  too  ready  to  give  to  specula- 
tions as  to  what  may  happen  if  certain  contin- 
gencies arise  in  the  future.  "A  large  proportion 
of  newspaper  writing,"  says  Hamerton,  "  is  occu- 
pied with  speculations  on  what  is  likely  to  happen 
in  the  course  of  a  few  months  ;  therefore,  by 
waiting  until  the  time  is  past,  we  know  the  event 
without  having  wasted  time  in  speculations  which 


144  XTbe  Cboice  of  3Boofts 

could  not  affect  it."  We  should  put  ourselves  in 
the  position  of  one  who  bears  in  mind  the  "  long 
result  of  time,"  as  well  as  the  particular  duties 
and  experiences  of  the  day.  The  cultivation  of 
this  principle  will  also  do  much  to  remove  the 
dangerous  influence  of  an  undue  devotion  to  the 
ephemeral  excitements  and  bitterness  of  partisan 
politics,  in  which  newspapers  of  course  play  an 
active  part.  Hamerton  even  goes  so  far  as  to 
advise  the  avoidance  of  all  literature  that  has  a 
controversial  tone.  This  is  urging  more  than  is 
practicable,  or  advisable;  but  we  can  at  least  read 
newspapers  in  such  a  manner  that  we  need  not 
be  ashamed  of  ourselves  after  election-day. 

As  for  the  reading  of  magazines  and  reviews, 
and  of  newspapers  which  are  devoted  to  com- 
ment and  criticism  rather  than  news,  it  need  only 
be  said  that  the  time  spent  over  them  should  be 
watched  somewhat  less  strictly,  and  that  the  fol- 
lowing of  the  same  principle  of  purpose  of  which 
we  have  spoken  so  often  will  make  easy  the 
selection  of  articles. 


READING  ALOUD,  AND  READING  CLUBS 

"  ¥  T  OW  should  we  read  ?  "  asks  an  old-time 
I  I  authority,  who  proceeds  to  answer  the 
question  in  four  replies:  "First,  thought- 
fully and  critically;  secondly,  in  company  with  a 
friend,  or  your  family ;  thirdly,  repeatedly; 
fourthly,  with  pen  in  hand." 

Reading  aloud,  in  the  company  of  others — the 
practice  commended  in  the  second  of  these  rules 
— is  in  every  way  advantageous.  Its  least  im- 
portant advantage  is  nevertheless  highly  salutary, 
that  it  affords  valuable  means  for  training  in  the 
elocutionary  art — an  art  in  which  the  modem 
American  youth  is  inferior  to  his  grandparents ; 
and,  aside  from  this,  it  promotes  thought,  it 
stimulates  one  mind  by  contact  with  another; 
and  it  almost  inevitably  calls  forth,  by  discussion, 
acts  and  opinions  which  otherwise  would  not 
have  been  considered. 

In  an  over-severe  attack  on  the  alleged  decline 
and  inutility  of  the  entire  public  school  system, 

lO 

145 


146  Ubc  Choice  of  JSoofts 

the  late  Richard  Grant  White  offered  some  sug- 
gestions on  the  training  of  classes  in  the  art  of 
reading  aloud,  which  are  so  sound  and  sensible 
that  they  may  well  be  repeated  here  for  general 
readers  as  well  as  educators. 

"  Of  all  knowledge  and  mental  training,"  said 
Mr.  White,  * '  reading  is  in  our  day  the  principal 
means,  and  reading  aloud  intelligently  the  un- 
mistakable, if  not  the  only,  sign.  Yet  this, 
which  was  so  common  when  the  present  genera- 
tion of  mature  men  were  boys,  is  just  what  our 
highly  and  scientifically  educational  educators 
seem  either  most  incapable  or  most  neglectful  of 
teaching.  And  yet  the  means  by  which  children 
were  made  intelligent  and  intelligible  readers, 
thirty-five  or  forty  years  ago,  were  not  so  recon- 
dite as  to  be  beyond  attainment  and  use  by  a 
teacher  of  moderate  abilities  and  acquirement, 
who  set  himself  earnestly  to  his  work.  As  I  re- 
member it,  this  was  the  way  in  which  we  were 
taught  to  read  with  pleasure  to  ourselves  and 
with  at  least  satisfaction  to  our  hearers:  Boys 
of  not  more  than  seven  to  nine  years  old  were 
exercised  in  defining  words  from  an  abridged  dic- 
tionary. The  word  was  spelled  and  the  definition 
given  from  memory,  and  then  the  teacher  asked 


IReaOittd  Hlout),  IReaMna  Clubs     147 

questions  which  tested  the  pupil's  comprehension 
of  the  definition  that  he  had  given,  and  the  mem- 
bers of  the  class,  never  more  than  a  dozen  or 
fourteen  in  number,  were  encouraged  to  give  in 
their  own  language  their  notion  of  the  word  and 
to  distinguish  it  from  so-called  synonyms.  As  to 
the  amount  of  knowledge  that  was  thus  gained,  it 
was  very  little — little,  at  least,  in  comparison  with 
the  value  of  this  exercise  as  education,  that  is, 
of  mental  training,  which  was  very  great.  The 
same  class  read  aloud  every  day,  and  the  books 
that  they  read  were  of  sufificient  interest  to  tempt 
boys  to  read  them  of  themselves.     .     .     . 

"  When  the  reading  began  all  the  class  were 
obliged  to  follow  the  reader,  each  in  his  own 
book;  for  any  pupil  was  liable  to  be  called  upon 
to  take  up  the  recitation,  even  at  an  unfinished 
sentence,  and  go  on  with  it;  and  if  he  hesitated 
in  such  a  manner  as  showed  that  his  eye  and 
mind  were  not  with  the  reader's,  the  effect  upon 
his  mark  account  was  the  same  as  if  he  himself 
had  failed  in  reading.  If  the  reading  of  any 
sentence  did  not  show  a  just  apprehension  of 
its  meaning,  the  reader  was  stopped  and  the 
sentence  was  passed  through  the  class  for  a 
better  expression  of  its  sense.    Whether  this  was 


148  XTbe  Cbotcc  ot  IBoofts 

obtained  from  the  pupils  or  not,  the  teacher  then 
explained  the  sense  or  gave  some  information, 
the  want  of  which  had  caused  the  failure,  and  by 
repetition  of  both  readings — the  bad  and  the  good 
— showed  by  contrast  and  by  comment  why  the 
one  was  bad  and  why  the  other  good.  Words 
were  explained;  if  tHey  were  compound  words 
they  were  analysed;  the  dififerent  shades  of  mean- 
ing which  words  have  in  different  connections 
were  remarked  upon,  and  the  subject  of  the 
essay,  the  narration,  or  the  poem  which  formed 
the  lesson  of  the  day  was  explained.  The  de- 
livery of  the  voice  was  attended  to;  not  in  any 
pretentious,  artificial,  elocutionary  way,  but  with 
such  regard  for  good  and  pleasant  speech  as  was 
dictated  by  common  sense  and  good  breeding. 
The  young  readers  were  not  allowed  to  hang 
their  heads  either  over  their  bosoms  or  over  their 
shoulders,  but  were  made  to  stand  up  straight, 
throw  back  their  shoulders,  lift  their  heads  well 
up,  so  that  if  their  eyes  were  taken  from  their 
books,  they  would  look  a  man  straight  in  the 
face.  Only  in  this  position  can  the  voice  be  well 
delivered.  The  slightest  mispronunciation  was, 
of  course,  observed  and  corrected,  and  not  only  so, 
but  bad  enunciation  was  checked,  and  all  slovenly 


IRea^ing  Hlou&,  IReaDing  Clubs     149 

mumbling  was  reprehended,  and  as  far  as  pos- 
sible reformed.  Yet  with  all  this  there  was  con- 
stant caution  against  a  prim,  pedantic,  and  even 
a  conscious  mode  of  reading.  The  end  sought 
was  an  intelligent,  natural,  and  simple  delivery 
of  every  sentence. 

"  Of  course,  a  lesson  in  reading  like  this  was 
no  trifling  matter.  It  was,  indeed,  the  longest 
recitation  of  the  session,  and  the  one  at  which  the 
instructive  powers  of  the  teacher  were  most 
severely  tested.  But  it  was  the  most  valuable, 
the  most  important  lesson  of  the  day.  By  it  the 
pupil  was  taught  not  only  to  read  well  and  speak 
well,  but  to  think.  His  powers  of  attention  and 
apprehension  were  put  in  exercise,  and  he  was 
obliged  to  discriminate  shades  of  meaning  before 
he  could  express  them  by  inflection  of  voice. 
Reading  aloud  well  was  then  regarded  as  inferior 
in  importance  to  no  other  '  branch  '  of  education; 
it  was  practised  until  pupils  were  prepared  to 
enter  college,  the  later  reading  lessons  being 
taken  from  Milton  or  Pope  or  Burke,  or  some 
other  writers  of  the  highest  class,  and  being  again 
accompanied  by  explanation  and  criticism.  In 
the  earlier  years  of  a  boy's  school-time  any  other 
recitation  would  be  omitted  by  the  teacher  sooner 


ISO  JLbc  Cbofce  of  Boofts 

than  that  in  reading  aloud.  How  it  is,  or  why 
it  is,  that  such  instruction  in  reading  has  fallen 
into  disuse  I  do  not  know.  Indeed,  I  know  that 
it  is  disused  only  by  the  chorus  of  complaint  that 
goes  up  on  all  sides,  both  in  England  and  in  the 
United  States,  that  children  cannot  read  aloud, 
and  that  they  cannot  write  from  dictation.  This, 
of  course,  could  not  be  if  children  were  taught  in 
the  manner  which  I  have  endeavoured  to  de- 
scribe. A  schoolboy  of  eight  or  nine  years  old, 
if  taught  in  that  way,  would  know  how  to  read 
English  aloud  decently  well,  if  he  knew  nothing 
else.  And  it  is  really  more  important  that  he 
should  know  how  to  do  this  well,  and  that  he 
should  learn  to  do  it  in  some  such  manner  as  I 
have  described,  than  that  he  should  begin  the 
study  of  the  arts  and  sciences." 

In  this  connection  there  occurs  to  the  mind  a 
single  verse  of  the  Bible,  which  comprises,  in 
twenty-three  words,  a  whole  treatise  on  the  art 
of  reading  aloud:  "  So  they  read  in  the  book  in 
the  law  of  God  distinctly,  and  gave  the  sense, 
and  caused  them  to  understand  the  reading," 

This  is  not  the  place  for  any  long  discussion  of 
the  externals,  so  to  speak,  of  reading  aloud.  As 
we  have  said,  reading  in  the  home  circle,  or  liter- 


•ReaMna  Hlou^,  IRcabino  Clubs     151 

ary  clubs,  closely  unites  mere  elocutionary  prac- 
tice with  a  new  apprehension  of  the  sense  of  what 
is  read,  and  promotes  in  a  high  degree  the 
growth  of  the  culture  of  all  the  persons  who  take 
part  in  it.  Fortunately,  the  habit  is  being  re- 
vived of  late  years,  both  at  home  and  in  associa- 
tions of  readers.  It  can  be  taken  up  at  any  time: 
nothing  is  easier  than  to  find  listeners  more  than 
willing  to  be  read  to;  and  the  custom  will  prove 
to  repay  cultivation  to  an  unlimited  extent.  Of 
course  reading  aloud  is  slower  work  than  reading 
to  one's  self;  but  the  advantages  of  deliberate 
thought,  and  of  a  fellowship  with  the  minds  of 
others,  more  than  make  up  this  loss. 

Some  helpful  hints  on  social  literary  work  for 
women — hints  which  apply,  for  the  most  part, 
equally  well  to  men,  or  to  the  literary  clubs  com- 
posed of  both  sexes — may  well  be  reprinted  here, 
from  The  Christian  Union. 

"  In  every  community,"  says  the  journal, 
"  there  are  intelligent  women,  with  considerable 
leisure  at  their  command,  who  have  a  desire  to 
be  helpful,  and  in  the  same  community  there  is  a 
class  of  young  women  who  need  intellectual 
stimulus  and  guidance.  How  shall  the  two  be 
brought  together,  so  that  the  supply  shall  meet 


152  Xlbe  Cbotce  of  3BooF?s 

the  demand  ?  Newspapers,  magazines,  and  pub- 
lic libraries  all  serve  an  admirable  purpose  in  the 
intellectual  life  of  the  community,  but  they  are 
not  sufficient.  What  is  needed  is  personal  influ- 
ence and  power,  and  this  is  just  the  element 
which  intelligent  women  are  able  to  supply. 

"Almost  every  village,  certainly  every  larger 
town,  contains  a  number  of  recent  graduates  from 
high  schools  and  seminaries,  who  are  not  able, 
for  one  reason  or  another,  to  complete  their  school 
education  by  a  full  college  course.  Now,  to  girls 
of  this  class,  a  woman  of  tact  and  intelligence  can 
render  the  greatest  possible  service  by  helping 
them  to  preserve  the  habits  of  study  they  have 
already  formed  and  to  keep  alive  the  intellectual 
interest  and  curiosity  that  have  been  awakened 
in  them;  and  by  giving  them  just  that  impulse 
which  shall  keep  them  drinking  continually  at 
the  running  streams  of  knowledge.  The  train- 
ing of  the  best  schools  fails  unless  it  emphasises 
the  importance  of  continual  and  systematic  study 
as  the  habit  of  a  lifetime;  but  it  is  just  this  which 
large  numbers  of  bright  and  promising  graduates 
from  the  higher  schools  fail  to  carry  away  with 
them.  They  go  home  from  their  last  term  with  a 
latent  desire  for  fuller  knowledge,  but  that  desire 


IReaMnQ  Hlou&,  IReaMng  Clubs     153 

is  not  strong  enough  to  carry  them  through  the 
interruptions  home  Ufe  brings  to  a  regular  course 
of  study,  and  what  they  need  is  an  impulse  from 
without,  and  the  guidance  of  some  mature  and 
trained  mind.  Any  intelligent  woman  can  find  a 
noble  work  for  herself  by  opening  her  doors  to 
girls  of  this  class,  and  providing  in  her  home  a 
kind  of  post-graduate  course  for  them.  No  study 
and  no  teaching  is  so  delightful  as  that  which  is 
full  of  the  element  of  personality,  in  which  teacher 
and  scholars  meet  on  a  social  basis,  and  as  friends 
mutually  interested  in  the  same  work,  in  which 
the  methods  are  entirely  informal  and  conversa- 
tional, and  the  result  the  largest  and  freest  dis- 
cussion of  the  subject.  An  experiment  of  this 
kind  need  not  be  a  heavy  task  on  the  teacher 
either  in  time  or  effort.  A  class  may  be  formed 
which  shall  meet  for  an  hour  once  or  twice  a 
week,  taking  any  subject  for  study  that  has  vital 
connection  with  life.     .     .     . 

"  No  subject  will  be  more  entertaining  in  itself 
or  open  up  so  many  paths  of  private  reading  and 
study  as  English  literature.  An  excellent  plan 
would  be  to  take  Stopford  Brooke's  Primer  of 
English  Literature  as  a  connecting  thread  of 
study,  and  with  it  as  a  guide  to  make  the  grand 


154  Ube  Cboice  of  3Boofts 

tour  of  English  literature,  taking  each  great 
author  in  his  turn  and  making  such  study  of  his 
life  and  work  as  would  be  within  the  power  of  an 
ordinarily  intelligent  person.  DifiFerent  authors 
may  be  assigned  to  different  members  of  the  class, 
who  shall  specially  study  up  and  give  account  of 
them,  so  that  the  principal  facts  of  their  lives, 
the  special  qualities  of  their  work  and  the  particu- 
lar impulse  which  they  imparted  to  their  age  may 
be  made  the  possession  of  the  whole  class.  Then 
there  is  the  great  field  of  art,  which  by  the  aid  of 
the  admirable  textbooks  now  being  published 
may  be  intelligently  and  profitably  traversed  by 
those  who  have  no  opportunities  for  technical 
knowledge,  but  who  desire  to  know  art  in  its 
historical  aspects,  and  to  be  able  by  knowledge 
of  its  historical  development  to  understand  the 
school  of  the  present  day.  These  hints  will  sug- 
gest a  multiplicity  of  topics  that  might  with  the 
utmost  profit  be  studied  in  this  way.  Every 
woman  who  desires  to  make  the  experiment  can 
easily  settle  the  question  of  what  subject  she  shall 
take,  by  consulting  her  own  culture,  her  own 
tastes,  and  the  needs  of  those  whom  she  wishes 
to  help.  The  special  knowledge  to  be  imparted 
is  not  of  so  much  value  as  the  habit  of  study. 


lRea&ing  aiouO,  IReabina  Clubs     155 

which  is  to  be  strengthened  and  made  continuous 
in  the  life  of  the  student." 

This  is  an  exact  description  of  what,  to  my 
knowledge,  has  frequently  been  done  in  classes 
of  young  women  in  villages, — many  of  whom 
have  enjoyed  slender  opportunities  for  education, 
and  nearly  all  of  whom  have  earned  their  own 
living.  In  these  classes,  reading  aloud  by  the 
members  has  been  a  constant  feature. 

In  the  formation  of  classes  like  those  indicated 
above,  or  Shakespeare  clubs,  or  social  literary 
organisations  in  general,  two  things  should  never 
be  forgotten:  that  almost  any  kind  of  a  begin- 
ning is  better  than  none;  and  that  the  constitu- 
tion and  by-laws  of  the  society,  if  it  is  deemed 
necessary  to  have  any,  should  be  of  the  simplest 
character  possible. 

Edward  Everett  Hale  says  that,  in  his  experi- 
ence as  a  parish  minister,  he  looks  back  on  the 
work  which  reading  classes  have  done  with  him 
with  more  satisfaction  than  on  any  other  organ- 
ised effort  which  he  has  shared  for  the  education 
of  the  young.  His  most  important  hints  for  the 
management  of  such  classes  are  as  follows: 

**  It  seems  desirable  that  a  class  shall  be  of  such 
a  size  that  free  conversation  may  be  easy.     If  the 


is6  Ube  Cboice  of  IBoofts 

number  exceeds  thirty,  the  members  hardly  be- 
come intimate  with  each  other,  and  there  is  a 
certain  shyness  about  speaking  out  in  meeting. 
The  size  of  the  room  has  some  effect  in  this  matter. 
"  I  think  that  in  the  choice  of  the  subject  the 
range  may  easily  be  too  large.  It  seems  desirable 
that  the  members  of  the  class  shall  know  at  the 
beginning  what  their  winter's  work  is  to  be  so 
specifically  that  they  can  adjust  to  it  their  general 
readings.  Even  the  choice  of  novels  for  relaxa- 
tion, or  the  selection  of  what  they  will  read  and 
what  they  will  not,  in  newspapers,  magazines, 
and  reviews,  depends  on  this  first  choice  of  sub- 
ject. The  leader  of  the  class  should  give  a  good 
deal  of  time  to  preparation.  The  more  he  knows, 
the  better,  of  course,  but  all  that  is  absolutely 
necessary  is  that  he  shall  keep  a  little  in  advance 
of  the  class  and  shall  be  willing  to  work  and 
read.  A  true  man  or  woman  will,  of  course, 
'  confess  ignorance '  frankly.  I  would  rather 
have  in  a  leader  good  practical  knowledge  of 
books  of  reference  and  the  way  to  use  public 
libraries  than  large  specific  knowledge  of  the 
subject  in  hand.  Of  course  it  would  be  better  to 
have  both.  And  I  think  a  class  is  wise  in  leaving 
to  its  leader  the  selection  of  the  topic.     Granting 


IReaMnG  HlouD,  IRea&tna  Clubs     157 

these  preliminaries,  I  would  urge,  and  almost 
insist,  that  no  one  should  attend  the  class  who 
would  not  promise  to  attend  to  the  end.  Nothing 
is  so  ruinous  as  the  presence  of  virgins  who  have 
no  oil  in  their  vessels,  and  are  in  the  outer  dark- 
ness before  the  course  is  half  done.  I  think  it  is 
well  to  agree  in  the  beginning  on  a  small  fee — a 
dollar,  or  half  a  dollar — which  can  be  expended 
in  books  of  reference,  or  supper,  or  charity,  or 
anything  else  desirable.  The  real  object  of  the 
fee  is  weeding  out  unreliable  members. 

"  Every  member  should  have  a  note-book  and 
pencil,  and  those  who  do  not  take  notes  should 
be  expelled.  What  is  heard  at  such  classes,  with 
no  memorandum  to  connect  it  with  after-work, 
goes  in  at  one  ear  and  out  at  the  other. 

"  To  make  sure  that  each  member  takes  notes, 
it  is  well  to  keep  one  class  journal.  At  the  end 
of  each  meeting,  assign  the  making  up  of  this 
journal  to  some  one  of  the  class,  selected  by  acci- 
dent. The  length  of  this  journal  should  be 
limited — say  to  a  single  page  of  a  writing-book. 
Otherwise  the  ambitious  members  vie  with  each 
other  in  making  them  long,  which  is  in  no  way 
desirable.  All  you  want  is  the  merest  brief  of  the 
work  done  at  each  meeting.     .     . 


is8  XTbe  (Eboice  of  Boofts 

"  The  leader  will  very  soon  get  a  knowledge  of 
what  the  different  members  of  the  class  can  and 
will  do.  Indeed,  the  consideration  of  what  they 
want  to  do  will  become  an  important  part  of  his 
arrangements.  He  should  remember  that  they 
are  all  volunteers,  that  it  is  no  business  of  his  to 
drive  up  a  particular  laggard  to  his  work,  but 
rather  to  make  the  class  as  profitable  as  he  can 
for  all." 


WHAT  BOOKS  TO  OWN 

EVERYBODY  ought  to  own  books.  My 
father  used  to  call  a  house  without  books 
a  literary  Sahara;  and  how  many  of  them 
there  are!  We  are  a  "reading  people";  but 
nothing  is  easier  to  find  than  homes  in  which  the 
furniture,  the  pictures,  the  ornaments,  every- 
thing, is  an  object  of  greater  care  and  expense 
than  the  library.  Is  it  any  wonder  that  their 
inmates,  whatever  their  so-called  wealth  or  com- 
fort, are  intellectual  starvelings  ? 

One  of  the  best  statements  concerning  books  in 
the  house  is  by  Henry  Ward  Beecher:  "  We  form 
judgments  of  men,"  says  he,  "  from  little  things 
about  their  houses,  of  which  the  owner,  perhaps, 
never  thinks.  In  earlier  years,  when  travelling 
in  the  West,  where  taverns  were  scarce,  and  in 
some  places  unknown,  and  every  settler's  house 
was  a  house  of  entertainment,  it  was  a  matter  of 
some  importance  and  some  experience  to  select 
wisely  where  you  should  put  up.  And  we  always 
looked  for  flowers.  If  there  were  no  trees  for 
159 


i6o  Ube  Cboice  of  Boofts 

shade,  no  patch  of  flowers  in  the  yard,  we  were 
suspicious  of  the  place.  But  no  matter  how  rude 
the  cabin  or  rough  the  surroundings,  if  we  saw 
that  the  window  held  a  little  trough  for  flowers, 
and  that  some  vines  twined  about  strings  let  down 
from  the  eaves,  we  were  confident  that  there  was 
some  taste  and  carefulness  in  the  log-cabin.  In  a 
new  country,  where  people  have  to  tug  for  a 
living,  no  one  will  take  the  trouble  to  rear  flowers 
unless  the  love  of  them  is  pretty  strong;  and  this 
taste,  blossoming  out  of  plain  and  uncultivated 
people,  is  itself  a  clump  of  harebells  growing  out 
of  the  seams  of  a  rock.  We  were  seldom  misled. 
A  patch  of  flowers  came  to  signify  kind  people, 
clean  beds,  and  good  bread. 

' '  But  in  other  states  of  society  other  signs  are 
more  significant.  Flowers  about  a  rich  man's 
house  may  signify  only  that  he  has  a  good  gar- 
dener, or  that  he  has  refined  neighbours,  and  does 
what  he  sees  them  do.  But  men  are  not  accus- 
tomed to  buy  books  unless  they  want  them.  If 
on  visiting  the  dwelling  of  a  man  in  slender 
means  we  find  that  he  contents  himself  with 
cheap  carpets  and  very  plain  furniture  in  order 
that  he  may  purchase  books,  he  rises  at  once  in 
our  esteem.     Books  are  not  made  for  furniture. 


Mbat  Koofts  to  ®wn  i6i 

but  there  is  nothing  else  that  so  beautifully  fur- 
nishes a  house.  The  plainest  row  of  books  that 
cloth  or  paper  ever  covered  is  more  significant  of 
refinement  than  the  most  elaborately  carved 
dtag^re  or  sideboard.  Give  us  a  house  furnished 
with  books  rather  than  furniture.  Both,  if  you 
can,  but  books  at  any  rate.  To  spend  several 
days  in  a  friend's  house,  and  hunger  for  some- 
thing to  read,  while  you  are  treading  on  costly 
carpets  and  sitting  on  luxurious  chairs,  and 
sleeping  upon  down,  is  as  if  one  were  bribing 
your  body  for  the  sake  of  cheating  your  mind. 

"  Is  it  not  pitiable  to  see  a  man  growing  rich, 
augmenting  the  comforts  of  home,  and  lavishing 
money  on  ostentatious  upholstery,  upon  the  table, 
upon  everything  but  what  the  soul  needs  ?  We 
know  of  many  and  many  a  rich  man's  house 
where  it  would  not  be  safe  to  ask  for  the  common- 
est English  classics.  A  few  garish  annuals  on 
the  table,  a  few  pictorial  monstrosities,  together 
with  the  stock  religious  books  of  his  *  persuasion,' 
and  that  is  all!  No  poets,  no  essayists,  no  his- 
torians, no  travels  or  biographies,  no  select 
fiction,  no  curious  legendary  lore.  But  the  wall 
paper  cost  three  dollars  a  roll,  and  the  carpet 
cost  four  dollars  a  yard! 


i68  Xlbc  Cboice  of  IBoofts 

"  Books  are  the  windows  through  which  the 
soul  looks  out.  A  home  without  books  is  like  a 
room  without  windows.  No  man  has  a  right  to 
bring  up  his  children  without  surrounding  them 
with  books,  if  he  has  the  means  to  buy  them.  It 
is  a  wrong  to  his  family.  He  cheats  them! 
Children  learn  to  read  by  being  in  the  presence 
of  books.  The  love  of  knowledge  comes  with 
reading  and  grows  upon  it.  And  the  love  of 
knowledge  in  a  young  mind  is  almost  a  warrant 
against  the  inferior  excitement  of  passions  and 
vices.  I<et  us  pity  these  poor  rich  men  who  live 
barrenly  in  great  bookless  houses!  Let  us  con- 
gratulate the  poor  that,  in  our  day,  books  are  so 
cheap  that  a  man  may  every  year  add  a  hundred 
volumes  to  his  library  for  the  price  which  his 
tobacco  and  his  beer  cost  him.  Among  the  ear- 
liest ambitions  to  be  excited  in  clerks,  workmen, 
journeymen,  and,  indeed,  among  all  that  are 
struggling  up  in  life  from  nothing  to  something, 
is  that  of  owning  and  constantly  adding  to  a 
library  of  good  books.  A  little  library  growing 
larger  every  year  is  an  honourable  part  of  a 
young  man's  history.  It  is  a  man's  duty  to  have 
books.  A  library  is  not  a  luxury,  but  one  of  the 
necessaries  of  life." 


TRabat  Boofts  to  ®wn  163 

In  this  connection,  do  you  remember  Chaucer's 
Clerk  of  Oxenford,  who  stinted  himself  in  every 
other  way  in  order  that  he  might  have  money  to 
buy  books  ? 

"  A  Clerk  tber  was  of  Oxen  ford  also, 
That  unto  logik  badde  longe  i-go. 
Al-so  lene  was  his  hors  as  is  a  rake, 
And  he  was  not  right  fat,  I  undertake. 
But  lokede  holwe,  and  therto  soburly. 
Ful  thredbare  was  his  overest  courtepy, 
For  he  badde  nought  geten  him  yet  a  benefice. 
Ne  was  not  worthy  to  haven  an  office. 
For  him  was  lever  have  at  his  beddes  heed 
Twenty  bookes,  clothed  in  blak  and  reed, 
Of  Aristotil,  and  of  his  philosophie 
Than  robus  riche,  or  fithul,  or  sawtrie. 

"  But  al-though  he  were  a  philosophre, 
Yet  hadde  he  but  litul  gold  in  cofre  ; 
But  al  that  he  might  gete,  and  his  frendes  sende, 
On  bookes  and  his  leruyng  be  it  spende, 
And  busily  gan  for  the  soules  praye, 
Of  hem  that  yaf  him  wherwith  to  scolaye. 
Of  studie  took  he  raoste  cure  and  heede. 
Not  00  word  spak  he  more  than  was  neede  ; 
All  that  he  spak  it  was  of  heye  prudence, 
And  short  and  quyk,  and  ful  of  gret  sentence. 
Sownynge  in  moral  manere  was  his  speche, 
And  gladly  wolde  he  lerne,  and  gladly  teche." 

"  To  be  without  books  of  your  own  is  the  abyss 
of  penury;  don't  endure  it!"  exclaims  Ruskin. 
Lyman  Abbott  declares  that  "  the  home  ought 


i64  XTbe  Cboice  of  Boofts 

no  more  to  be  without  a  library  than  without  a 
dining-room  and  kitchen.  If  you  have  but  one 
room,  and  it  is  Hghted  by  the  great  wood  fire  in 
the  flaming  fireplace,  as  Abraham  Lincoln's  was, 
do  as  Abraham  Lincoln  did:  pick  out  one  corner 
of  your  fireplace  for  a  library,  and  use  it."  Still 
another  truth  is  well  stated  by  Sir  Arthur  Helps 
in  a  few  words:  "A  man  never  gets  so  much 
good  out  of  a  book  as  when  he  possesses  it." 

The  influence  of  the  home  library  upon  all  the 
members  of  the  family,  and  especially  the  younger 
ones,  can  hardly  be  overstated.  The  biographies 
of  literary  men,  and  of  great  men  not  literary,  are 
full  of  testimonies  to  the  value  of  the  neighbour- 
hood and  society  of  books  in  early  youth.  "  I 
like  books,"  says  Dr.  Holmes;  "  I  was  born 
and  bred  among  them."  He  has  told  us,  in 
an  amusing  way,  what  sort  of  a  library  he  was 
"brought  up"  in;  and,  great  reader  though  he 
was,  he  lamented  that  he  had  not  read  even  more: 
"  It  was  very  largely  theological,  so  that  I  was 
walled  in  by  solemn  folios,  making  the  shelves 
bend  under  the  loads  of  sacred  learning.  Wal- 
ton's Polygot  Bible  was  one  of  them.  Poli- 
synopsis  was  another;  a  black  letter  copy  of  Fox's 
Acts  and  Monuments  another,  and  so  on.    Higher 


Mbat  Boofts  to  ©wn  165 

up  on  the  shelves  stood  Fleury's  Ecclesiastical 
History,  in  twentj'-five  volumes  octavo.  In  one 
of  these  volumes  a  book-worm  had  eaten  his  way 
straight  through  from  beginning  to  end,  leaving 
a  round  hole  through  every  leaf,  as  if  a  small 
shot  had  gone  through  it.  My  father  wrote  some 
verses  about  it,  I  recollect,  beginning:  '  See  here, 
my  son,  what  industry  can  do.'  I  wish  I  had 
profited  better  by  them.  I  have  not  been  the 
most  indolent  of  mortals,  but  the  industry  of 
some  of  my  acquaintances  .  .  .  makes  me 
feel  as  if  I  had  been  lazy  in  comparison.  I  do 
not  remember  whether  I  have  told  this  in  any  of 
my  books  or  not;  at  any  rate,  the  lesson  taught 
by  the  book-worm  and  turned  into  verse  by  my 
father  is  one  by  which  any  young  person  may 
profit." 

Another  contemporary  writer,  Edmond  About, 
has  similarly  ascribed  his  formation  of  the  read- 
ing habit  to  his  father's  care  in  collecting  a 
library :  ' '  Reading  is  assuredly  an  excellent  thing, 
and  my  father  never  would  forego  it,  after  he  had 
attained  some  leisure  and  affluence.  By  degrees 
he  had  obtained  five  or  six  hundred  well-chosen 
volumes.  He  constantly  turned  over  the  leaves 
of  the  Encyclopcedia   of  Useful  Knowledge   and 


i66  Ubc  Cboice  ot  Boofts 

Boret's  manuals;  he  had  even  subscribed  with 
three  or  four  neighbours  to  a  liberal  Paris  paper; 
but  he  prized  far  above  all  the  knowledge  that  he 
had  gained  quite  alone.  Gently  and  patiently  he 
also  accustomed  me  to  look  and  think  for  myself, 
instead  oi  imposing  upon  me  his  ideas,  which 
my  docile,  submissive  spirit  would  have  blindly 
accepted." 

In  lieu  of  a  thousand  similar  utterances,  per- 
haps it  will  be  enough  to  quote  what  a  veteran 
journalist,  Charles  T.  Congdon,  wrote  concerning 
the  encouragement  of  a  love  and  a  care  for  books 
on  the  part  of  children:  "  I  would  early  encour- 
age in  children  a  reverence  for  books.  The  need 
of  it  is  the  greater  because  school  business  so 
tends  to  raggedness  and  destruction.  And  this 
naturally  brings  me  to  a  topic  which  is  well  worth 
considering — I  mean  the  care  and  preservation  of 
books.  I  have  known  young  people  who  were 
highly  particular  in  the  conservation  of  their 
small  libraries;  and  I  think  that  this  is  a  ten- 
dency which  it  would  be  well  for  parents  and 
guardians  to  encourage.  I  argue  well  of  a  child 
who  carefully  conserves  its  books,  covers  them, 
and  ranges  them  on  a  little  shelf  in  a  little  row. 
When  I  encounter  this  particularity,  I  see  before 


TRUbat  3Boofts  to  ©wn  167 

me  future  collectors  and  bibliographers  in  em- 
bryo." 

Then,  after  a  word  on  "  the  immorality  which 
pervades  the  ranks  of  borrowers,"  he  speaks  of 
the  pleasure  children  will  take  hereafter  in  look- 
ing back  on  books  which  delighted  them  when 
the  world  was  new  and  small  things  charming. 

I  have  happened  to  find  some  sensible  words  of 
the  same  sort  in  a  country  weekly,  the  very  place 
where  such  expressions  are  likely  to  do  most 
good  to  the  local  public:  "  Nothing  is  more  im- 
portant to  young  people  than  an  early  love  for 
good  books.  In  no  way  can  this  love  be  better 
fostered  than  by  the  formation  of  home  libraries. 
No  matter  how  few  or  small  the  books  are,  to 
commence  with,  they  will  make  a  beginning,  and 
you  will  wonder  at  its  growth.  Don't  have  the 
books  scattered  about,  but  collect  them.  Any 
boy  can  make  shelves  which  are  good  enough, 
and  the  very  act  of  getting  your  books  together 
will  form  a  desire  for  more.  When  you  have 
thus  made  a  beginning  make  it  a  rule  never  to 
add  a  poor  or  *  trashy  '  book.  A  good  book  is 
worth  a  hundred  of  the  other  kind.  In  this  day 
of  cheap  books  there  is  no  reason  why  every  boy 
.     .     .     need  not  have  something  of  a  library." 


1 68  Ube  Cboice  ot  Boohs 

Boys  may  well  remember  that  from  such  a  be- 
ginning great  results  may  grow.  From  no  greater 
a  collection  than  any  young  reader  can  easily 
make,  the  historian  Gibbon  tells  us  that  he 
gradually  formed  a  numerous  and  select  library, 
* '  the  foundation  of  ray  works,  and  the  best  com- 
fort of  my  life,  both  at  home  and  abroad." 

Aside  from  the  reading  of  books,  their  mere 
society  and  companionship  is  of  high  advantage. 
Boswell  tells  us  that  Dr.  Johnson  thought  it  well 
even  to  look  at  the  backs  of  books:  "  No  sooner 
had  we  made  our  bow  to  Mr.  Cambridge,  in^s 
library,  than  Johnson  ran  eagerly  to  one  side  of 
the  room,  intent  on  poring  over  the  backs  of  the 
books.  Sir  Joshua  [Reynolds]  observed,  aside, 
'  He  runs  to  the  books  as  I  do  the  pictures;  but  I 
have  the  advantage,  I  can  see  much  more  of  the 
pictures  than  he  can  of  the  books.'  Mr.  Cam- 
bridge, upon  this,  politely  said:  '  Dr.  Johnson,  I 
am  going,  with  your  pardon,  to  accuse  myself, 
for  I  have  the  same  custom  which  I  perceive  you 
have.  But  it  seems  odd  that  we  should  have  such 
a  desire  to  look  at  the  backs  of  books.'  Johnson, 
ever  ready  for  contest,  instantly  started  from  his 
reverie,  wheeled  about,  and  answered:  '  Sir,  the 
reason  is  very  plain.     Knowledge  is  of  two  kinds. 


TRUbat  JSoofts  to  ®wn  169 

We  know  a  subject  ourselves,  or  we  know  where 
we  can  find  information  upon  it.  When  we  in- 
quire into  any  subject,  the  first  thing  we  have  to 
do  is  to  know  what  books  have  treated  of  it. 
This  leads  us  to  look  at  catalogues,  and  the  backs 
of  books  in  libraries. '  Sir  Joshua  observed  to  me 
the  extraordinary  promptitude  with  which  John- 
son flew  upon  an  argument.  *  Yes,'  said  I,  '  he 
has  no  formal  preparations,  no  flourishing  with 
his  sword;  he  is  through  your  body  in  an  in- 
stant.' " 

People  who  are  accustomed  to  know  where 
particular  books  are  can  fly  to  them  in  an  emer- 
gency; and  sometimes  a  little  library  at  home, 
well  understood,  is  a  more  effective  armory  than 
a  great  collection,  unknown. 

"What  a  place  to  be  in  is  an  old  library!" 
exclaimed  Charles  Lamb.  One's  own  library 
becomes  old,  for  him,  as  the  years  go  on,  and 
each  book  is  a  sort  of  landmark  in  the  history  of 
his  mind.  There  is  the  Christmas  present  given 
him  on  his  sixth  birthday,  and  there  the  Kelm- 
scott  Chaucer  bought  with  the  savings  of  middle 
life.  The  true  owner  of  books  loves  his  books, 
and  they  come  to  have  real  personalities.  When 
poor  Southey,  after  a  life  of  hard  work  among 


I70  Ubc  Cbolcc  of  3Boohs 

books,  lost  his  mind,  and  even  the  power  to  read 
a  word,  he  spent  hours  and  hours  in  wandering 
through  his  library,  feeling  his  books,  and  pet- 
ting them,  and  laying  his  head  against  them. 

So  lyongfellow  sang,  in  his  fine  sonnet  My 
Books  : 

"Sadly  as  some  old  mediaeval  knight 

Gazed  at  the  arms  he  could  no  longer  wield, 
The  sword  two-handed  and  the  shining  shield 
Suspended  in  the  hall,  and  full  in  sight, 
While  secret  longings  for  the  lost  delight 
Of  tourney  or  adventure  in  the  field 
Came  over  him,  and  tears  but  half  concealed 
Trembled  and  fell  upon  his  beard  of  white, 
So  I  behold  these  books  upon  their  shelf, 
My  ornaments  and  arms  of  other  days  ; 
Not  wholly  useless,  though  no  longer  used, 
For  they  remind  me  of  my  other  self. 
Younger  and  stronger,  and  the  pleasant  ways 
In  which  I  walked,  now  clouded  and  confused." 

It  is  not  necessary  to  advise  buyers  to  possess 
this  or  that  particular  book,  nor  to  present  to 
them  a  definite  list  of  ten,  fifty,  a  hundred,  or  a 
thousand  volumes,  and  say,  * '  Buy  these,  and  you 
will  have  a  library."  The  preceding  chapters  in 
this  series  have  sufiiciently  indicated,  I  trust, 
what  sort  of  books  one  ought  to  read,  and  how  a 
selection  of  books  to  own  may  best  be  guided  and 
limited.     Any  intelligent  person,  after  a  certain 


Mbat  JSoohs  to  ®wn  171 

amount  of  experience,  can  tell,  when  he  reads  a 
catalogue  of  publications,  or  visits  a  book-store, 
what  are  standard  books,  and  what  are  those 
which  are  good  to  read.  Everyone's  conscience, 
too,  will  sooner  or  later,  if  wisely  developed,  tell 
him  what  books  to  shun.  Some  volumes  are  to 
be  read  for  a  temporary  purpose,  and  not  to  be 
owned.  Buy  nothing  that  you  are,  or  will  be, 
ashamed  of,  and  remember  that  "art  is  long,  and 
time  is  fleeting."  In  a  word,  choose  your  books 
as  you  would  choose  your  friends  and  helpers. 

The  collector  of  a  home  library  should  not  be 
discouraged  because  there  are  so  many  books  in 
the  world,  and  he  can  buy  so  few.  Says  Emer- 
son: "  I  visit  occasionally  the  Cambridge  library, 
and  I  can  seldom  go  there  without  renewing  the 
conviction  that  the  best  of  it  all  is  already  within 
the  four  walls  of  my  study  at  home.  The  inspec- 
tion of  the  catalogue  brings  me  continually  back 
to  the  few  standard  writers  who  are  on  every 
private  shelf ;  and  to  these  it  can  afford  only  the 
most  slight  and  casual  additions.  The  crowds 
and  centuries  of  books  are  only  commentary  and 
elucidation,  echoes  and  weakeners  of  these  few 
great  voices  of  Time." 

In  the  same  strain  are  these  words  from  an 


172  Ubc  Cbolce  of  Boofts 

editorial  in  the  Pall  Mall  Gazette,  of  London: 
"  It  is  some  comfort  to  reflect  that  without  pos- 
sessing a  library  equal  to  that  of  the  British 
Museum,  and  indeed  one  which  can  be  coaxed 
into  a  single  room  of  moderate  dimensions,  one 
may  have  everything  in  the  way  of  literature 
which  has  been  so  far  produced  by  the  human 
race  which  is  still  worth  reading — not  to  say  a 
good  deal  more.  A  large  collection  of  English 
poets,  from  Chaucer  to  Cowper,  will  go  upon  a 
small  shelf;  and  all  that  has  since  been  written 
of  any  importance  will  fail  to  fill  another.  Three- 
fourths  even  of  that  collection  is  of  interest  only 
in  a  historical  sense.  And  truly  it  suggests  mel- 
ancholy as  well  as  comfort  to  look  round  any 
decent  library;  to  mark  the  collected  works  even 
of  the  greatest;  and  to  remember  how  small  is  the 
proportion  of  grain  to  chaif."  My  own  collection 
of  twenty-five  hundred  volumes  is  enough;  the 
outside  world  may  have  the  rest. 

As  for  the  choice  of  editions  of  books  to  own,  a 
remark  of  Dr.  Johnson's  is  worth  remembering, 
though,  of  course,  not  of  universal  application: 
"  Books  that  you  may  carry  to  the  fire,  and  hold 
readily  in  your  hand,  are  the  most  useful,  after 
all." 


Mbat  JSoofts  to  ©wn  173 

The  care  of  the  home  library  should  chiefly 
consist  of  keeping  its  contents  accessible  and  neat. 
Books  that  are  imprisoned,  or  are  kept  in  unfre- 
quented rooms,  are  deprived  of  half  their  useful- 
ness. It  is  better  to  have  a  book  worn  out  with 
use,  or  faded  by  sunlight,  or  kept  where  it  needs 
a  daily  dusting,  than  to  have  it  preserved  like  a 
stuffed  bird  in  a  case.  Open  shelves  are  better 
than  glass-doored  book-caseS,  and  the  original 
binding  of  a  book  is  better  than  a  brown-paper 
cover.  Who  would  like  a  friend  always  dressed 
in  a  "  duster  "  ?  or  who  would  enjoy  living  in  one 
of  those  melancholy  rooms  where  all  the  furniture 
is  shrouded  in  linen  ?  Brown-paper  book-covers 
may  be  excusable  in  public  libraries,  but  never  in 
private  ones. 

A  few  hints  on  the  care  of  books,  selected  from 
a  paper  by  S.  L.  Boardman,  will  be  found  service- 
able :  ' '  Whatever  the  room  chosen  for  the  library, 
let  it  be  warm  and  sunny,  on  the  south  side  of  the 
house  if  possible,  and  plainly  furnished,  for  what 
furnishing  so  gorgeous  and  attractive  as  good 
books  ?  An  open  fire  is  the  only  means  of  warm- 
ing that  should  ever  be  thought  of  in  a  library 
room.     .     .     . 

"  Books  have  a  far  more  cheerful  and  social 


174  XTbe  Cboice  of  JSoofts 

look  when  you  can  readily  see  them,  and  handle 
them,  and  become  acquainted  with  them,  than 
when  they  are  locked  up  as  though  you  were 
afraid  somebody  would  read  them,  or  that  they 
would  make  somebody  happy  if  he  could  only 
turn  over  their  magic  pages.  Open  cases,  then, 
for  all  books  in  private  libraries,  especially  in 
what  we  call  '  working  libraries. '     .     .     . 

"  Do  not  put  too  much  money  in  expensive  and 
luxuriant  bindings.  I  am  not  talking  to  the 
wealthy  bibliophile,  who  is  able  to  employ  Bed- 
ford, or  Pawson,  or  Charles  White  to  bind  his 
books  regardless  of  cost,  but  to  the  average  book- 
lover  or  collector.  Put  the  extra  money  your  fine 
bindings  would  cost  into  more,  and  more  ser\ace- 
able,  books,  and  be  happy.  Choose  editions  in 
plain  substantial  dress,  and  leave  elaborate  gild- 
ing, and  blind  tooling,  and  silk  linings,  to  your 
exquisite  fancier.     .     .     . 

"  Books  should  never  be  crowded  tightly  on  the 
shelves.  They  should  be  so  kindly  disposed  as  to 
gently  support  each  other.  Great  injury  comes 
from  placing  them  too  closely  together.  Books 
are  generally  taken  down  from  their  positions  by 
the  top  of  the  back,  and  in  many,  many  instances 
I  have  seen  books,  some  of  which  were  in  their 


TRIlbat  Boofts  to  ©wn  175 

day  strongly  bound,  completely  broken  away  at 
the  back  from  being  pulled  carelessl)'  out  of  posi- 
tion. In  removing  a  book  from  its  place  the 
proper  way  is  first  to  loosen  the  books  standing 
each  side  of  the  one  wanted,  by  giving  them  a 
gentle  sideward  pressure;  then,  tipping  the  book 
from  you  at  the  top  and  taking  hold  of  the  bot- 
tom, gently  draw  it  out.  Do  not  pile  books  flat- 
ways upon  the  top  of  those  standing  upright  in 
the  case.  It  injures  those  upon  which  they  rest 
very  much.  Remember  the  advice  of  old  Richard 
De  Bury,  centuries  ago,  *  never  to  approach  a 
volume  with  uncleanly  hands.'  Books  are  easily 
soiled,  paper  and  binding  retaining  the  imperfec- 
tion of  the  least  pressure  of  unwashed  hands. 
Dust  off  the  books  every  day,  and  remember  that, 
like  house  plants,  they  need  a  constant  supply  of 
fresh  air.  They  are  dear  friends.  We  become 
attached  to  them  from  constant  intercourse,  and 
when  we  remember  how  much  enjoyment  we  re- 
ceive from  their  silent,  tender  companionship,  we 
should  in  return  treat  them  well,  give  them  the 
best  room  in  the  house,  and  teach  our  children 
and  visitors  to  pay  to  them  due  respect." 

I  am  often  asked  whether  it  is  better  to  buy 
standard  authors  in  complete  editions,  or  favourite 


176  JLbc  Cbotce  ot  Boohs 

selected  works.  Buy  both;  let  some  great  writers, 
most  dear  to  your  heart,  stand  complete  on  your 
shelves ;  for  the  rest,  save  your  purse  and  your 
book-space  by  picking  up  whatsoever  volumes 
you  will, — so  long  as  they  are  decently  readable, 
in  both  senses  of  the  adjective. 

Finally,  be  occasionally  extravagant  in  book- 
buying.  A  volume,  or  a  set,  that  has  cost  some 
preliminary  planning  and  subsequent  economis- 
ing may  be  a  lifelong  pleasure,  from  the  time 
when  you  first  began  to  wonder  whether  you 
could  afford  it  until  the  solemn  day  in  which 
you  bequeath  it  to  some  book-lover  of  the  next 
generation. 


THE  USE  OF  PUBLIC  LIBRARIES 

EVERY  town  ought  to  have  a  library  con- 
taining as  many  volumes  as  the  town  has 
inhabitants.  Such  a  library  becomes  at 
once  the  centre  of  the  intellectual  life  of  the  town, 
and  affects  the  morals  and  manners  of  the  entire 
community,  welcoming  all  to  the  benefits  of  high 
thought  and  the  friendship  of  noble  minds.  And 
more,  its  influence  stretches  out  into  the  whole 
country,  wherever  its  readers  may  chance  to  go. 
A  town  with  a  library  can  be  distinguished  easily 
from  one  which  lacks  any  such  collection  of  books; 
and  those  parts  of  the  country  in  which  public 
libraries  abound  are  the  parts  which  are  most  in- 
fluential in  every  department  of  intellectual  and 
even  material  labour.  This  great  work  of  library 
development  has  dotted  all  the  north-eastern 
portion  of  the  United  States  with  buildings  and 
influences  as  truly  useful  as  those  of  our  temples 
of  worship — a  development  unprecedented  in  the 
world's  history  and  unequalled  in  other  parts  of 
this  or  any  other  country. 

la 

177 


178  Ube  Cbofce  of  Boohs 

It  is  true  that  the  greatest  libraries  of  the  world 
are  not  on  this  side  of  the  Atlantic,  America 
has,  as  yet,  no  collections  numerically  equalling 
those  of  the  Biblioth^que  Nationale  in  Paris  or 
the  British  Museum  in  L,ondon. 

In  Europe  most  books  go  to  great  public 
reference-libraries  or  large  private  collections  ; 
in  America  they  are  far  more  widely  distributed 
in  multiplied  smaller  libraries  for  the  good  of 
the  people.  Truly  this  is  the  land  of  readers: 
a  land  in  which,  as  I  once  saw  in  New  York, 
the  very  driver  of  a  dump-cart  picks  a  tattered 
book  from  the  ashes  he  carries,  and  reads  it 
as  he  jolts  along.  It  is  for  us  to  see  that  this 
reading  habit  is  maintained  and  purified,  and  not 
to  allow  it  to  be  said  that,  in  the  increasing  hurry 
of  merely  materialistic  development,  busy  men 
read  nothing  but  sensational  dailies,  and  tired 
women  nothing  but  ephemeral  novels. 

The  public  library,  like  most  good  things  in 
the  world,  must  be  a  growth,  an  evolution.  The 
idea  of  growth,  and  development,  and  nurture, 
which  is  so  closely  connected  with  almost  every- 
thing in  the  natural  and  the  spiritual  world,  bears 
an  important  relation  to  collections  of  books,  large 
or  small.     A  library,  whether  public  or  private. 


XLbc  "Clse  ot  public  Xibrarles      179 

should  therefore  be  governed  by  an  intelligent 
purpose  and  a  watchful  discrimination,  propor- 
tioned to  the  important  and  lasting  influence  which 
it  must  inevitably  assert,  for  good  or  for  bad. 

It  is  a  mere  truism  to  say  that  a  book  may  play 
a  conspicuous  part  in  shaping  the  character  of 
many  readers,  long  after  its  purchaser  shall  have 
forgotten  its  existence,  or  shall  have  departed 
from  this  world.  The  selection  of  a  new  book, 
therefore,  ought  to  be  made  with  thoughtfulness 
and  care,  and  with  a  full  knowledge  of  its  proba- 
ble service  in  the  library  of  which  it  will  be  a  part. 
Not  every  collection  of  books,  however,  gives  evi- 
dence of  a  dominating  principle  on  the  part  of 
those  who  have  gathered  it.  How  many  preten- 
tious homes  there  are  in  which  the  books  seem 
the  most  conspicuous  accidents  that  the  house 
contains!  Town  libraries  are  usually  chosen  with 
greater  care,  but  even  here  librarians  or  purchas- 
ing committees  are  often  unduly  influenced  by  a 
desire  to  get  the  newest  books,  or  the  greatest 
number  for  a  given  sum  of  money,  or  those  books 
which  can  be  chosen  in  the  shortest  time.  Many 
custodians  or  purchasers  of  books,  know  what 
they  want  and  why  they  want  it,  but  many  others 
squander  their  money  and  their  influence,  and  not 


I  So  tLbc  Choice  ot  IBooUs 

only  fail  to  attain  the  desired  good,  but  put  a 
positive  evil  into  its  place. 

No  book  should  ever  be  bought  without  a  good 
reason.  If  it  is  to  fulfil  a  temporary  use,  the 
reason  may  be  as  honest  and  as  imperative  as 
though  it  were  purchased  for  all  time.  But  what- 
ever may  be  the  circumstances  attending  its  pur- 
chase, it  should  be  able  to  approve  the  intelligence 
and  wisdom  of  its  purchaser.  Fifty  books  hav- 
ing a  why  and  a  wherefore  are  better  than  five 
hundred  having  no  plea  to  make  for  themselves. 
There  is  no  better  reason  why  we  should  permit 
chance,  or  importunity,  or  lack  of  time,  to  tell  us 
what  books  to  buy  than  to  allow  them  to  guide 
our  choice  of  a  church,  or  a  place  of  residence,  or 
an  occupation  in  life. 

The  choice  of  books  for  public  libraries  should 
be  made  with  care,  but  with  a  full  remembrance 
of  the  fact  that  there  are  many  tastes  in  the  com- 
munity, and  that,  while  those  tastes  can  and  must 
be  raised,  they  must  first  be  reached.  "  We  sup- 
pose," says  one  authority,  "all  would  agree  upon 
these  simple  principles — (i)  a  library  must  not 
circulate  bad  books;  (2)  it  must,  within  this  limit, 
give  the  public  the  books  it  wants;  (3)  it  must 
teach  it  to  want  better  books." 


Ube  'Clse  of  ipublic  Xibraries      iSi 

If  a  sound  purpose  is  the  guiding  principle  in 
the  selection  of  the  separate  books  which  make  a 
library,  so  also  it  should  govern  and  shape  the 
uses  to  which  that  library  is  put.  It  should  place 
one  book  in  the  hands  of  one  reader,  and  give 
another  to  another.  It  should  wisely  note  the 
proper  time  for  a  certain  volume  to  do  a  particular 
work,  and  should  not  forget  to  ascertain  when 
that  time  passes  by.  It  should  look  both  on  the 
long  future  years  and  on  the  present  moment, 
and  should  train  up  the  library  in  full  remem- 
brance of  the  fact  that  new  needs  and  duties  come 
with  new  times. 

In  this  connection  it  is  well  to  lay  stress  upon 
the  duty,  in  developing  a  library, — even  a  public 
library,  which  may  properly  keep  many  books  for 
possible  rather  than  probable  use, — of  getting  rid 
of  its  useless  contents.  We  make  mistakes  in 
book-collecting  as  well  as  in  everything  else — in- 
deed, it  sometimes  seems  as  though  folly  in  this 
line  were  more  conspicuous  than  in  most  others. 
Why,  then,  should  we  keep  in  sight  and  posses- 
sion our  failures  in  books,  any  more  than  in 
other  matters  ?  A  bad  or  superannuated  book  is 
no  better  than  an  ill-fitting  or  worn-out  shoe,  and 
has  no  better  right  to  permanence.     Some  books 


i82  Ube  Cbolce  of  BooKs 

are  pests  and  plague-spots,  and  their  proper  place 
is  in  the  fire.  Others  are  of  no  use  to  us  or  to 
anybody  else,  and  may  be  sent  to  the  rag-man,  to 
be  ground  up  into  fresh  paper  for  new  service. 
Others  have  fulfilled  their  purpose  for  us,  but  if 
given  to  new  owners  would  perform  fresh  and  ex- 
cellent work  for  readers  unfamiliar  with  their 
contents.  Still  others  may  wisely  be  sold  or  ex- 
changed, and  thus  bring  us  new  lamps  for  old. 
Selling  books  may  be  as  legitimate  as  buying 
them.  And  so,  by  constantly  remembering  that 
a  library  is  something  for  use;  that  it  is  a  treasury, 
and  not  a  tomb,  of  learning  and  helpful  wisdom; 
and  that  it  has  a  life  and  growth  and  changing 
usefulness,  and  therefore  needs  our  watchful  and 
purposeful  care  as  day  after  day  goes  by, — we 
can  greatly  increase  its  possibilities  of  service, 
and  make  it  a  living  force  instead  of  a  waning 
memory. 

As  regards  the  service  of  the  library  to  the 
community,  one  should  never  forget  that  both 
sentimental  and  practical  considerations  unite  in 
calling  upon  us  to  pay  attention  to  the  possible 
working  force  of  books.  The  attention  we  be- 
stow upon  this  consideration  shows  the  value  we 
attach  to  them. 


TEbe  xase  of  public  Xlbraries      183 

It  is  the  most  important  item  in  the  utilisation 
of  books,  in  public  collections  or  private,  in  the 
largest  libraries  or  the  smallest,  that  they  should 
be  made  accessible.  Books  out  of  sight  or  out  of 
reach  of  an  individual  have,  for  that  individual, 
no  value  at  all;  and  certainly  those  others  who 
cannot  read  books  with  convenience  are  not  likely 
to  feel  that  sense  of  companionship  which  comes 
after  familiarity  with  them.  Certain  restrictions 
are  necessary,  wherever  books  are  collected  for 
use,  but  such  restrictions  should  be  reduced  to 
the  lowest  number.  Wherever  possible,  readers 
should  not  only  be  permitted  to  handle  the  par- 
ticular books  they  wish  to  examine  with  a  view 
to  reading,  but  should  also  be  allowed  to  browse, 
so  to  speak,  among  the  shelves.  The  advantages 
of  book-using  are  almost  directly  proportionate 
to  the  accessibility  of  the  volumes.  With  this  in 
mind,  they  should  be  well  classified,  with  a  view 
to  the  reader's  information  and  convenience. 
Who  has  not  spent  tedious  hours  of  hunting  for 
the  desired  book,  even  in  the  smallest  collections  ? 
In  large  public  libraries  classification  is  absolutely 
essential,  and  its  absence  reduces  the  collection  to 
an  indistinguishable  mass,  of  whose  quality  the 
reader  can  judge  only  by  specimens  taken  at 


iS4  XTbe  Cboice  of  Boofts 

haphazard.  When  the  books  have  been  made 
accessible  and  wisely  classified,  their  custodian 
will  hardly  need  to  be  reminded  to  see  that  they  are 
neatly  kept,  both  by  himself  and  by  other  users. 
He  .should  bear  in  mind,  however,  that  dust  is 
not  the  only  enemy  to  be  encountered.  Insects, 
mould,  dampness,  or  the  burning  of  gas  are  some- 
times still  more  destructive;  and  it  is  not  safe  to 
leave  books  upon  the  shelves  without  frequent 
removal  and  examination. 

For  all  larger  public  libraries  an  iron  stack,  or 
pile  of  seven-foot  stories,  closely  filling  the  in- 
terior, is  better  than  a  spacious  hall,  lined  with 
lofty  tiers  of  books,  after  a  fashion  now  falling 
into  disuse;  but  the  smaller  library,  with  less  de- 
mands on  its  room,  may  properly  follow  what 
may  be  called  the  hall  plan,  provided  that  its 
shelves — preferably  at  right  angles  with  the  walls 
— for  all  frequently  used  books  be  not  beyond  the 
reach  of  the  hand.  In  every  case,  the  building 
should  "be  sound  and  dry,  the  apartments  airy 
and  with  abundant  light";  there  should  be  but 
one  row  of  books  on  the  .shelf;  and  the  classifica- 
tion should  be  topical,  but  always  for  the  con- 
venience of  the  user,  and  not  for  the  slavish  fol- 
lowing of  the  Cutter,  Dewey,  or  other  system. 


Xlbe  TDlse  ot  ipublic  Xibraries      185 

Ivibraries,  like  Sabbaths,  should  be  made  for  men, 
and  not  men  for  libraries.  Do  not  subdivide  too 
minutely,  or  try  to  remedy  chaos  by  pettiness. 

In  the  handling  of  a  book  by  the  individual,  it 
is  not  well  to  lay  down  too  many  minute  rules. 
Its  usefulness  is  always  the  principal  thing  to 
be  sought,  and  its  preservation  and  ordinary 
treatment  are  to  be  made  subject  to  those  rules 
which  shall  best  secure  this  end.  A  book  is  not 
a  fetich  or  an  oracle ;  and  too  much  fussiness  in 
its  care  may  defeat  the  very  end  for  which  it  was 
made.  A  library  is  not  a  museum  of  curiosities, 
but  a  working  force.  Some  books,  to  be  sure, 
fulfil"  their  purpose  if  they  are  infrequently  con- 
sulted by  a  patient  scholar  working  in  a  remote 
and  comparatively  unimportant  comer  of  the  field 
of  learning.  Manuscripts  in  the  Bodleian  or  the 
Vatican  would  not  be  put  to  their  best  use,  but 
would  speedily  be  destroyed,  were  they  passed 
from  hand  to  hand  in  the  community  at  large. 
Nor  does  the  utility  of  some  old  law-book  de- 
pend upon  the  frequency  with  which  it  is  found 
in  readers'  hands.  But  the  majority  of  libraries 
in  this  broad  land  of  general  readers,  and  the 
greater  part  of  the  books  they  contain,  are  not 
designed  to  throw  light  upon  intricate  questions, 


1 86  Ube  Cboice  of  Boohs 

demanding  comparison  of  manuscripts  or  citation 
of  decisions.  The  measure  of  success  must  be 
that  of  the  greatest  good  to  the  greatest  number; 
and  the  utility  of  a  library  indicates  the  intelli- 
gence with  which  it  is  managed. 

A  great  advance  has  been  made  in  the  public 
libraries  of  the  United  States,  of  late  years,  in  the 
matter  of  developing  and  providing  for  the  tastes 
of  the  people.  Probably  the  large  libraries  are 
twice  as  efficient  as  they  were  a  quarter  of  a  cent- 
ury ago,  and  the  gain  has  been  chiefly  due  to  a 
better  conception  of  the  duties  of  the  librarian. 
Custodians  of  libraries  do  not  regard  themselves 
as  curators  of  literary  museums,  but  as  professors 
of  books  and  reading,  with  an  office  and  work 
every  whit  as  honourable  and  influential  as  that 
of  college  professors.  Therefore  they  prepare  lists 
of  books  on  particular  topics,  and  post  them  up 
for  use  of  readers,  especially  at  times  when  the 
demand  is  most  urgent.  Whenever  inquiries  are 
made,  they  answer  them  fully  and  courteously, 
and  they  not  only  do  this,  but  court  such  in- 
quiries, and  strive  to  stimulate  a  public  taste. 
From  time  to  time  they  print  bulletins,  or  prepare 
readers'  hand-books  or  otherwise  inform  the  pub- 
lic concerning  the  resources  and  work   of  the 


XCbe  TUse  ot  public  Xibrartes      187 

library.  Printed  or  written  lists  should,  of  course, 
be  used  simply  as  means  toward  ends.  The  needs 
and  tastes  of  communities  vary,  and  the  aim  of 
the  custodians  of  libraries  should  be  to  provide  for 
the  gratification  of  proper  reading-habits,  and  also 
to  develop  those  habits  and  raise  the  public  taste. 
Lists  of  accessions  should  be  posted  and  kept 
fresh;  titles  of  more  important  books  should  be 
accompanied  by  brief  characterisations;  leading 
political  and  literary  events  should  quickly  be 
followed  by  helpful  topical  summaries,  and  by 
free  and  stimulating  conversation,  as  far  as  may 
be,  with  those  seeking,  or  even  unconsciously  in 
need  of,  aid.  The  public,  too,  should  be  taught 
the  wise  use  of  the  printed  or  written  catalogue, 
and  of  the  best  bibliographies.  All  this  labour  is 
as  essential  to  the  smallest  library,  in  proportion 
to  its  size,  as  it  is  to  the  largest.  There  is  no 
more  sense  in  saying  that  a  little  collection  of 
books  should  not  be  worked  to  its  utmost,  than 
in  declaring  that  a  mission  church,  or  a  pioneer 
community,  should  be  left  to  grow  as  best  it  may, 
without  any  intellectual  supervision  and  stimu- 
lating suggestion. 

The  place  and  work  of  the  public  library  must 
accordingly  depend  upon  the  intelligent  foresight 


1 88  TLbc  Cboice  ot  Boofts 

and  the  enthusiastic  interest  of  custodians  and 
users  alike.  All  are  on  the  same  footing  in  the 
republic  of  books;  but  no  republic  can  long  be 
left  to  take  care  of  itself  without  forethought  and 
work  on  the  part  of  its  members  and  friends. 

Modern  readers  do  not  agree  with  Sir  Anthony 
Absolute  that  ' '  a  circulating  library  in  a  town  is 
an  evergreen  tree  of  diabolical  knowledge."  To 
us  it  seems  like  the  large  and  ever-burning  torch 
to  whose  generous  flame  we  can  carry  our  lesser 
lamps  whenever  we  would  light  them  anew.  I 
can  sincerely  say  that  I  owe  more  to  the  library 
of  my  native  town  (in  my  boyhood  containing 
perhaps  four  thousand  volumes)  than  to  my  entire 
college  course.  The  college  gives  much,  but  the 
library  gives  the  start. 

The  greatest  work  of  the  public  library  is 
double:  to  benefit  those  who  know  and  love 
books,  and  to  reach  into  the  byways  and  hedges 
for  those  whose  tastes  and  capacities  are  to  be  dis- 
covered and  developed.  Our  great-grandfathers 
had  their  Gradus  ad  Parnassum  ;  nor  can  their 
descendants  violate  the  law  that  nature  does 
nothing  by  leaps.  The  youthful  mind,  or  the 
adult  mind  not  hitherto  accustomed  to  the  use 
of  available  intellectual  wealth,  develops  its  taste 


tTbe  TUse  of  ipJubUc  Xibraries      189 

step  by  step:  by  the  picture-paper,  the  magazine, 
the  juvenile  story,  the  historical  novel,  the  bio- 
graphy, or  the  book  of  history.  In  this  upward 
march  even  the  daily  paper  has  its  place;  con- 
temporary reading  is  not  necessarily  superficial 
reading.  As  Edward  Freeman  said :  ' '  History 
is  past  politics,  and  politics  is  present  history." 
After  these  comes  true  and  artistic  literature, 
as  represented  in  books  of  poetry  and  the  higher 
prose.  The  two  great  blessings  of  life  are  ethics 
and  art,  and  of  the  arts  literature  is  the  most 
widely  beneficial. 

Horace  Greeley  once  said  that  he  wanted  but 
three  books  at  his  elbow:  a  dictionary,  an  atlas, 
and  a  cyclopaedia.  All  three,  in  manifold  forms, 
does  the  public  library  provide;  but  it  also  leads 
through  the  material  to  the  imaginative;  to  books 
that  deal  with  "  the  consecration  and  the  poet's 
dream,"  with  that  beauty  which  "  is  its  own  ex- 
cuse for  being,"  with  the  literature  of  things  "out 
of  space,  out  of  time,"  that  "  eye  hath  not  seen, 
nor  ear  heard,"  We  begin  with  the  easy  and  the 
practical,  and  end — no,  we  can  never  end — with 
the  struggle  for  ultimate  perfection. 

The  library  is  the  centre  to  which  we  turn;  the 
radius  from  which  benefits  go.     For  this  reason 


I90  XLbc  Cboice  ot  Boofts 

there  should  be  an  intimate  and  unceasing  con- 
nection between  it  and  the  pubhc  schools.  The 
teacher,  aided  by  the  library,  should  seek  to  in- 
duce the  pupil  to  follow  the  natural  way,  and 
look  for  the  best  models  of  style  to  be  found  in 
the  writing  of  the  best  authors.  Teach  him  to 
read  first,  and  then  teach  him  to  write  with  such 
naturalness  and  skill  as  he  can  command.  Keep 
his  standard  of  reading  high;  he  needs  literary 
reading  as  a  first  requisite — masterpieces  of  great 
authors,  to  which,  indeed,  bright  children  turn 
with  an  instinctive  recognition  of  the  good.  Thus 
is  a  genuine  love  of  books  developed  at  the  start; 
and  it  should  never  be  forgotten  that  seldom  in- 
deed is  the  reading  habit  formed  after  the  age  of 
childhood. 

In  training  up  a  library,  therefore,  and  in  mak- 
ing it  work,  we  must  proceed  and  progress.  An 
English  essayist  has  told  us  that  the  only  man  he 
envies  when  he  is  reading  a  good  book  is  the  man 
who  is  reading  a  better  one.  By  such  procedure 
we  learn  to  get  not  only  information,  but  wis- 
dom; and  out  of  the  rifF-raflf  of  multiplying  books 
that  are  not  books  we  select  and  assimilate  the 
few  that  we  really  make  part  of  our  lives  and 
characters. 


Zbc  "dee  of  {Public  Xibrarles      191 

All  literature  (like  all  Gaul)  may  be  divided 
into  three  parts;  good  books,  pretty  good  books, 
and  bad  books.  The  first  class  is  valuable,  the 
second  superfluous,  and  the  third  detestable. 
And  yet,  though  pretty  good  books  may  be  super- 
fluous in  the  eyes  of  those  who  read  the  best,  let 
us  not  forget  that  the  vast  majority  of  men  and 
women  read  little,  while  a  large  minority  of  those 
who  do  read  cannot  assimilate  the  very  best,  save 
in  discreetly  administered  portions.  How  many 
of  us,  indeed,  like  to  take  our  "classics  "  in  large 
instalments?  But  if  we  remember  the  old  Latin 
motto,  Optimum  elige :  suave  et  facile  illud  faciei 
consuetudo, — "Choose  the  best:  habit  will  make  it 
pleasant  and  easy," — we  can  find  books  that,  as 
Cicero  said,  we  wish  to  carry  with  us  by  day  and 
by  night,  and  would  transport  as  our  prime 
favourites,  if  we  could,  to  that  "desert  island" 
of  which  we  sometimes  dream  as  the  real  test  of 
our  literary  likes  and  dislikes.  There  are  volumes 
which  nourish  us  and  bring  us  to  a  new  life, 
broader  and  brighter  than  Dante's;  and  there  are 
volumes  that  are  slow  poison,  or  we  may  almost 
say,  instant  moral  death.  L,et  us  study  those 
historians  who  broadly  show  us  how  "  through 
the  ages  one  increasing  purpose  runs."     Let  us 


192  Ubc  Cboice  of  Boofts 

learn  from  those  essayists  who  emphasise  indi- 
vidual manliness  of  character  and  true  spiritual 
development,  lyCt  us  familiarise  ourselves  with 
that  ideal  true  poetry  which,  like  Shelley's  sky- 
lark, 

"  Singing,  still  dost  soar, 
And  soaring,  ever  singest." 

If  we  study  biography,  let  it  be  of  true  men  and 
by  true  men;  if  books  of  travel  let  them  instruct 
as  well  as  amuse.  If  we  follow  the  great  current 
of  fiction  let  us  shun  the  books  of  an  hour,  espe- 
cially the  superficial  tales  of  purposeless  people 
and  pointless  talk,  turned  out  semi-annually  by 
"realists"  who  are  too  blind  to  see  that  truth 
and  beauty  are  one,  and  that  the  ideal  is  more 
real  than  Piccadilly  or  a  Boston  boarding-house. 
There  is  fiction  and  fiction.  Let  us  never  waste 
time  over  trash  if  we  have  not  read  Ivanhoe  or 
such  a  short  story  as  Hawthorne's  Ethan  Brand, 
uniting  the  narrative  element  with  the  ethical. 

Thus  far  I  have  spoken  of  the  American  circu- 
lating library  of  books  for  the  people.  As  be- 
tween the  library  for  circulation  and  the  library 
for  reference,  however,  there  need  be  no  rivalry. 
Each  has  its  necessary  place,  and  most  collections 
of  books  must  serve  both  purposes.     As  scholar- 


XLhc  XUse  ot  {Public  Xibraries      193 

ship  increases,  the  research  library  must  greatly 
develop.  Says  Mr.  Herbert  Putnam,  the  lyibrarian 
of  Congress: 

"Almost  all  accounts  of  recent  library  progress 
are  of  the  progress  on  the  popular  side.  It  is  to 
this  chiefly  that  the  attention  of  the  public  has 
been  directed,  and  it  is  to  this  that  enthusiasm 
has  been  invited.  But  there  has  been  a  steady, 
if  less  spectacular,  progress  on  the  other  side 
which  concerns  the  serious  investigator.  It  has 
consisted  in  the  improvement,  if  not  in  the  multi- 
plication, of  research  libraries;  in  the  increase  of 
their  collections;  and  in  more  liberal  facilities  for 
their  use — particularly  through  interlibrary  loans. 
The  advances  toward  a  higher  as  well  as  broader 
service  on  the  part  of  the  National  Library  have 
been  significant;  but  the  advance  has  been  gen- 
eral. To  note  only  one  feature  of  it — there  has 
been  a  large  increase  in  special  collections  for  in- 
vestigation and  research  in  the  material  made 
available  in  free  libraries. 

Such  additions  as  these  to  libraries  where 
they  will  be  liberally  administered  give  assurance 
that  the  recent  progress  in  American  libraries  is 
not  merely  toward  the  popularisation  of  literature. 
They  show  that,  while  it  is  in  one  direction  a  zeal 


194  tCbe  Cboice  of  Boohs 

for  the  dififusion  of  knowledge,  it  is  also,  in  an- 
other, an  increasing  effort  toward  the  advance- 
ment of  learning."  * 

The  books  gathered  within  the  walls  of  a  library- 
are  chiefly,  indeed  only,  valuable  as  they  are 
transmuted  into  the  life  of  the  community. 
"  Character,  character,"  were  the  last  words  I 
ever  heard  from  the  lips  of  Phillips  Brooks  when, 
on  his  final  earthly  New  Year's  day,  he  adjured 
the  young  men  of  Boston  to  high  endeavour  to- 
ward making  existence  mean  something.  The 
creation  of  joyous  and  beautiful  character  is  the 
ultimate  result  of  true  art,  literary  or  other. 
Printed  books  will  outlast  us,  yet  they  too  will 
sometime  perish.  Some  part  of  their  contents, 
however,  it  is  sober  truth  to  say,  may  be  made  to 
pass  beyond  the  visible  world  when  turned  into 
that  mental  and  spiritual  life  of  the  individual 
which  we  believe  to  be  in  its  nature  indestructible. 

»  The  World's  Work,  July,  1905. 


THE  TRUE  SERVICE  OF  READING 

THE  true  service  of  reading  is  something 
more  than  to  aflford  amusement  for  an 
idle  hour.     Most  readers  will  admit  this, 
although  their  practice  is  too  often  opposed  to  the 
principle    whose    theoretical     correctness    they 
readily  accept.     And  it  is  also  to  be  remembered 
that  the  proper  end  to  be  sought  in  reading  is 
something  far  more  than  mere  acquirement  of 
knowledge,  or  attainment  of  individual  culture. 
A  wise  or  a  highly  cultured  person  may  be  one 
who  has  missed  the  genuine  good  of  reading, 
quite  as  eflfectually  as  though  he  were  ignorant 
and  uncultured.     The  end  and  aim  of  all  reading  i 
should  be  the  proper  development  of  a  true  and  I 
highly  personal  character,  and  the  utilising  of  1 
one's  own  acquirements  in  the  work  of  making  j 
other  men  nobler  and  better  than  they  now  are. 

In  this  end  and  aim  unwise  writers  and  readers 
manifestly  have  no  share.  "  Literature,"  says 
President  Porter,  "must  respect  ethical  truth,  if  it 
is  to  reach  its  highest  achievements  or  attain  that 
place  in  the  admiration  and  love  of  the  human 
195 


196  TLbc  Cboice  of  IBoofts 

race  which  we  call  fame.  The  literature  which 
does  not  respect  ethical  truth  ordinarily  survives 
as  literature  but  a  single  generation. ' '  But  litera- 
ture which  does  respect  ethical  truth  is  that  which 
survives  through  the  centuries,  and  which  plays 
its  part  in  the  betterment  of  the  world  long  after 
the  whole  face  of  civilisation  has  changed.  He 
who  recognises  literature  of  this  class,  and  takes 

I  it  to  his  heart,  with  the  resolve  to  use  it  as  a  trust 
rather  than  a  selfishly-hoarded  possession,   gets 

•  the  greatest  benefit  for  himself,  and  brings  the 
greatest  advantage  to  others. 

The  sense  of  the  preciousness  and  the  per- 
petuity of  good  books,  in  their  infiuence  on  the 
world  through  the  ages,  is  one  which  very  many 
writers  have  expressed  in  words  of  reverence. 
Keats  exclaims,  in  one  of  his  glowing  lyrics: 

"  Bards  of  passion  and  of  mirth, 
Ye  have  left  your  souls  on  earth  ! 
Have  ye  souls  in  heaven  too. 
Double-lived  in  regions  new?     .     .     . 
Thus  ye  live  on  high,  and  then 
On  the  earth  ye  live  again  ; 
And  the  souls  ye  left  behind  you 
Teach  us,  here,  the  way  to  find  you, 
Where  your  other  souls  are  joying. 
Never  slumber'd,  never  cloying. 
Here,  your  earth-bom  souls  will  speak 
To  mortals,  of  their  little  week  ; 


tlbe  ITrue  Service  of  IReaMng      197 

Of  their  sorrows  and  delights  ; 
Of  their  passions  and  their  spites  ; 
Of  their  glory  and  their  shame  ; 
What  doth  strengthen  and  what  maim. 
Thus  ye  teach  us,  every  day, 
Wisdom,  though  fled  far  away. 
Bards  of  passion  and  of  mirth. 
Ye  have  left  your  souls  on  earth  ! 
Ye  have  souls  in  heaven  too, 
Double-lived  in  regions  new  !  " 

'  *  Of  all  the  things  which  man  can  do  or  make 
here  below,  by  far  the  most  momentous,  wonderful 
and  worthy,  are  the  things  we  call  books,"  says 
Carlyle.  And  again  Carlyle  declares:  "Certainly 
the  art  of  writing  is  the  most  miraculous  of  all 
things  man  has  devised.  Odin's  runes  were  the 
first  form  of  the  work  of  a  hero;  books,  written 
words,  are  still  miraculous  runes,  the  latest  form! 
In  books  lies  the  soul  of  the  whole  past  time;  the 
articulate,  audible  voice  of  the  past,  when  the 
body  and  material  substance  of  it  has  altogether 
vanished  like  a  dream.  Mighty  fleets  and  armies, 
harbours  and  arsenals,  vast  cities,  high-domed, 
many-engined  —  they  are  precious,  great  :  but 
what  do  they  become?  Agamemnon,  the  many 
Agamemnons,  Pericleses,  and  their  Greece,  all  is 
gone  now  to  some  ruined  fragments,  dumb, 
mournful  wrecks  and  blocks ;  but  the  books  of 


198  XTbe  Cbofce  of  Boofts 

Greece!  There  Greece,  to  every  thinker,  still 
very  literally  lives;  can  be  called  up  again  into 
life.  No  magic  rune  is  stranger  than  a  book. 
All  that  mankind  has  done,  thought,  gained,  or 
been:  it  is  lying  in  magic  preservation  in  the 
pages  of  books.  They  are  the  chosen  possession 
of  men." 

In  The  Spectator  is  this  eloquent  passage  by 
Addison:  "As  the  Supreme  Being  has  expressed, 
and  as  it  were  printed,  his  ideas  in  the  creation, 
men  express  their  ideas  in  books,  which  by  this 
great  invention  of  these  latter  ages  may  last  as 
long  as  the  sun  and  moon,  and  perish  only  in  the 
general  wreck  of  nature.  .  .  .  There  is  no 
other  method  of  fixing  those  thoughts  which 
arise  and  disappear  in  the  mind  of  man,  and 
transmitting  them  to  the  last  periods  of  time;  no 
other  method  of  giving  a  permanency  to  our 
ideas,  and  preserving  the  knowledge  of  any  par- 
ticular person,  when  his  body  is  mixed  with  the 
common  mass  of  matter,  and  his  soul  retired  into 
the  world  of  spirits.  Books  are  the  legacies  that 
a  great  genius  leaves  to  mankind,  which  are  de- 
livered down  from  generation  to  generation,  as 
presents  to  the  posterity  of  those  who  are  yet 
unborn." 


Ubc  Zxnc  Service  of  IReaMng      199 

Herrick  wrote  to  a  friend  whom  he  had  com- 
memorated in  verse: 

"  Looke  in  my  booke,  and  herein  see 
Life  endless  sign'd  to  thee  and  me ; 
We  o're  the  tombes  and  fates  shall  flye, 
While  other  generations  die." 

And  Spenser  sung  in  stately  lines: 

"  For  deeds  doe  die,  however  noblie  donne, 
And  thoughts  of  men  do  as  themselves  decay  ; 
But  wise  wordes,  taught  in  numbers  for  to  runne, 
Recorded  by  the  Muses,  live  for  ay  ;  - 
Ne  may  with  storming  showers  be  washt  away, 
Ne  bitter-breathing  windes  with  harmfull  blast, 
Nor  age,  nor  en  vie,  shall  them  ever  wast." 

Milton  said  in  his  noble  Areopagitica  (or  plea 
for  the  freedom  of  the  press) :  ' '  Books  are  not  ab- 
solutely dead  things,  but  do  contain  a  potency  of 
life  in  them  to  be  as  active  as  that  soul  was  whose 
progeny  they  are:  nay,  they  do  preserve  as  in  a 
vial  the  purest  efficacy  and  extraction  of  that  liv- 
ing intellect  that  bred  them.  I  know  they  are  as 
lively,  and  as  vigorously  productive  as  those 
fabulous  dragon's  teeth;  and  being  sown  up  and 
down,  may  chance  to  spring  up  armed  men. 
And  yet  on  the  other  hand,  unless  wariness  be 
used,  as  good  almost  kill  a  man  as  kill  a  good 
book;  who  kills  a  man  kills  a  reasonable  creature, 


200  XTbe  Cboicc  ot  Boohs 

God's  image;  but  he  who  destroys  a  good  book, 
kills  reason  itself,  kills  the  image  of  God  as  it 
were  in  the  eye.  Many  a  man  lives  a  burden  to 
the  earth;  but  a  good  book  is  the  precious  life- 
blood  of  a  master-spirit,  embalmed  and  treasured 
up  on  purpose  to  a  life  beyond  life.  .  .  .  We 
should  be  wary,  therefore,  what  persecution  we 
raise  against  the  living  labours  of  public  men, 
how  we  spill  that  seasoned  life  of  man  preserved 
and  stored  up  in  books;  since  we  see  a  kind  of 
homicide  may  be  thus  committed,  sometimes  a 
martyrdom;  and  if  it  extend  to  the  whole  im- 
pression, a  kind  of  massacre,  whereof  the  execu- 
tion ends  not  in  the  slaying  of  an  elemental  life, 
but  strikes  at  that  ethereal  and  fifth  essence, 
the  breath  of  reason  itself;  slays  an  immortality 
rather  than  a  life." 

Richard  Baxter  thought  the  written  word  more 
powerful  than  the  spoken  one:  "  Because  God 
hath  made  the  excellent,  holy  writings  of  his  ser- 
vants the  singular  blessing  of  this  land  and  age; 
and  many  an  one  may  have  a  good  book,  even 
any  day  or  hour  of  the  week,  that  cannot  at  all 
have  a  good  preacher;  I  advise  all  God's  servants 
to  be  thankful  for  so  great  a  mercy,  and  to  make 
use  of  it,  and  be  much  in  reading;   for  reading 


Ube  ZTrue  Service  ot  IReaMng      201 

with  most  doth  more  conduce  to  knowledge  than 
hearing  doth,  because  you  may  choose  what  sub- 
jects and  the  most  excellent  treatises  you  please; 
and  may  be  often  at  it,  and  may  peruse  again  and 
again  what  you  forget,  and  may  take  time  as  you 
go  to  fix  it  on  your  mind;  and  with  very  many  it 
doth  more  than  hearing  also  to  move  the  heart." 

Coleridge  compares  books  to  fruit-trees:  *'  It  is 
saying  less  than  the  truth  to  affirm  that  an  excel- 
lent book  (and  the  remark  holds  almost  equally 
good  of  a  Raphael  as  of  a  Milton)  is  like  a  well- 
chosen  and  well- tended  fruit-tree.  Its  fruits  are 
not  of  one  season  only.  With  the  due  and  natural 
intervals,  we  may  recur  to  it  year  after  year,  and 
it  will  supply  the  same  nourishment  and  the  same 
gratification,  if  only  we  ourselves  return  to  it  with 
the  same  healthful  appetite." 

James  Freeman  Clarke  closes  an  excellent 
chapter  on  reading  with  these  grave  words: 
"  Let  us  thank  God  for  books.  When  I  consider 
what  some  books  have  done  for  the  world,  and 
what  they  are  doing,  how  they  keep  up  our  hope, 
awaken  new  courage  and  faith,  soothe  pain,  give 
an  ideal  life  to  those  whose  homes  are  hard  and 
cold,  bind  together  distant  ages  and  foreign  lands, 
create  new  worlds  of  beauty,  bring  down  truths 


202  Ube  Cbolce  of  JSoofts 

from  heaven  —  I  give  eternal  blessings  for  this 
gift,  and  pray  that  we  may  use  it  aright,  and 
abuse  it  never." 

Is  it  any  wonder,  then,  that  John  Lyly  gave  his 
son  this  advice:  "  My  good  son,  thou  art  to  re- 
ceive by  my  death,  wealth,  and  by  my  counsel, 
wisdom,  and  I  would  thou  wert  as  willing  to  im- 
print the  one  in  thy  heart,  as  thou  wilt  be  ready 
to  bear  the  other  in  thy  purse:  to  be  rich  is  the 
gift  of  fortune,  to  be  wise  the  grace  of  God. 
Have  more  mind  on  thy  books,  than  thy  bags, 
more  desire  of  godliness  than  gold,  greater  affec- 
tion to  die  well,  than  to  live  wantonly." 

"  Books  are  the  best  of  things,  well  used,"  says 
Emerson;  "abused,  among  the  worst.  What  is 
the  right  use?  What  is  the  one  end  which  all 
means  go  to  effect  ?  They  are  for  nothing  but  to 
inspire." 

In  a  word,  every  reader  may  well  bear  upon 
his  heart,  as  his  guide  toward  right  reading,  that 
motto  which  one  sometimes  sees  deeply  cut  in  the 
walls  of  old  churches:  Ad  majorem  Dei gloriam, 
— "  For  the  greater  glory  of  God." 


INDEX 

Abbott,  Lyman,  163 

About,  Edraond,  165 

Addison,  Joseph,  23,  24,  198 

Adler,  Felix,  2 

Alcott,  Amos  Bronson,  122 

Aristotle,  no 

Arnold,  Matthew,  34,  35,  no 

Art  of  not  reading,  64 

Art  of  skipping,  iv)ff. 

Atkinson,  W.  P.,  59,  60,  86,  95,  109,  no,  138 

Authors,  greatness  of,  96 

Bacon,  Francis,  61,  95,  119,  123,  126 
Bailey,  J.  C,  118 
Baxter,  Richard,  200 
Beecher,  Henry  Ward,  58 ,  59,  159-162 
Bindings,  economical,  174 
Boardman,  Samuel  L.,  173 
Books  and  diet  compared,  73 
Books  at  home,  \()iff. 
Books,  extent  of  production  of,  2,  7 
Books  for  children,  166-168 
Books,  friendliness  of,  20^. 
Books  measured  by  serviceableness,  30 
Books,  nutrition  in,  60 
Books,  selected  lists  of,  32,  33 
Books,  selection  of,  for  libraries,  178,  179 
Books,  treatment  of,  and  respect  for,  174,  175 
Books,  two  classes  of,  27,  28 
203 


204  fn^es 

Books,  what  to  own,  159 if. 

Books,  what  to  read,  25  ff. 

Boswell,  James,  168 

Brooks,  Phillips,  194 

Biilwer,  Sir  Edward  Lytton,  92-93 

Burns,  Robert,  7 

Butler,  Joseph,  35 

Candor  of  opinion  commended,  6 

Card-indexes  for  note-books,  90 

Carlyle,  Thomas,  197 

Cato,  71 

Channing,  William  Ellery,  22 

Chaucer,  Geoffrey,  163 

Children  and  books,  166-168 

Children,  training  of,  9,  10 

Choice  of  time  for  reading,  46^. 

Cicero,  191 

Clarke,  James  Freeman,  201 

Classes  for  reading  aloud,  155  ff. 

Classics  and  universities,  133,  134 

Clubs  and  reading  aloud,  145^ 

Coleridge,  Samuel  Taylor,  61,  201 

Collyer,  Robert,  17 

Commonplace-books,  use  of,  75,  87,  88 

Congdon,  Charles  T.,  166 

Cowper,  "William,  8 

Cramming,  15,  69 

Cultivation  of  taste,  91^. 

De  Bury,  Richard,  175 
De  Quincey,  Thomas,  31 
Disraeli,  Isaac,  5 
Durfee,  Charles  A.,  88 

Education  and  libraries,  186  jf. 


IFnbes  ao5 


Emerson,  Ralph  Waldo,  25,  26,  59,  96,  125,  128,  129,  171, 
189,  202 

F^nelon,  Archbishop,  23 
Freeman,  Edward  Augustus,  189 
Friendliness  of  books,  20 _^. 
Fuller,  Thomas,  87 

Germans  as  readers,  51-52 
Gibbon,  Edward,  23,  168 
Gladstone,  William  Ewart,  2 
Goschen,  G.  J.,  11 1 
Greeley,  Horace,  189 

Hale,  Edward  Everett,  15-16,  66,  155-158 

Hamerton,  Philip  Gilbert,  49-50,  51,  52_^.,  76,  124,  129- 

132,  136,  137,  143 
Harrison,  Frederic,  36,  37,  39 if.,  62 
Helps,  Sir  Arthur,  164 
Herrick,  Robert,  199 
Herschel,  Sir  John,  21 
Hillard,  George  Stillman,  24 
Holmes,  Oliver  Wendell,  164-165 
Home  libraries,  159  ff. 
Homer,  estimate  of,  42-44 
Hough,  E.,  3 
Hugo,  Victor,  97-99 
Hypocrisy  in  literature,  99^. 

Imagination,  cultivation  of,  107-108 
Indexing  of  note-books,  89-90 
Intellectual  compensation,  54^. 
Interruptions  in  reading,  54 

Jacquemont,  Victor,  51-52 
Johnson,  Samuel,  47,  168-169,  172 


io6  InDej 


Keats,  John,  io6,  196 

Lamb,  Charles,  169 

Lang,  Andrew,  34 

Libraries  in  homes,  159^. 

Libraries,  public,  use  of,  177 

Locke,  John,  59 

Lowell,  James  Russell,  3,  5,  14,  34,  71,  104,  117 

Luther,  Martin,  68 

Lyly,  John,  202 

Lytton,  see  Bui  war 

McCosh,  James,  5 

Magazines,  reading  of,  144 

Memory,  72  ff. 

Miller,  Joaquin,  26 

Milton,  John,  6,  63,  199 

Morley,  John,  4,  48,  68,  103-104,  117 

Newman,  Cardinal,  79 
Newspapers  as  transient  literature,  70 
Note-books,  indexing  of — Durfee,  88-90 
Note-books  of  Emerson  and  Alcott,  84,  85 
Note-books,  use  of,  82^.,  157 
Nutrition  in  books,  60 

Obscurity  in  poetry,  112 

Pattison,  Mark,  70,  71 

Paul,  St.,  95 

Periodicals,  how  to  read,  136  jf. 

Petrarch,  20,  61 

Poe,  Edgar  Allan,  106 

Poetry,  106^. 

Poetry,  obscurity  in,  112 

Poetry,  reading  of,  iii 


In&ej  207 


Porter,  Noah,  74-75,  94,  107,  195 
Potter,  Alonzo,  6,  67 
Putnam,  Herbert,  193-194 

Quick,  R.  H.,  70 

Reading  aloud  and  reading  clubs,  145  jf. 

Reading,  art  of  not,  64 

Reading,  best  time  for,  46^, 

Reading,  economy  in,  49 

Reading,  habit,  f)ff. 

Reading,  how  much,  58^ 

Reading  made  attractive,  15 

Reading,  motive  of,  i  ff. 

Reading  of  poetry — Atkinson,  109-110 

Reading,  rules  for,  25,  26 

Reading,  taste  for,  21,  22 

Reading,  true  service  of,  195  ff. 

Reed,  William  B.,  85-86 

Remembering  what  one  reads,  ^2)ff. 

Re-reading,  68,  69 

Rhodes,  James  Ford,  81 

Ruskin,  John,  4,  15,  28,  163 

Schopenhauer,  Arthur,  63-66 
Self-training,  iSff. 
Shairp,  J.  C,  112-115 
Shakespeare,  William,  27 
Shelley,  Percy  Bysshe,  109,  no,  192 
Sheridan,  Richard  Brinsley,  188 
Skipping,  art  of,  119^. 
Solomon,  i 

Spencer,  Herbert,  10-12 
Spenser,  Edmund,  199 
Stedman,  Edmund  Clarence,  9 
Stewart,  Dugald,  59 


2o8  irn&es 

Taste,  cultivation  of,  22,  91  ff. 
Tolstoi,  143 
Town  libraries,  T-T]  ff. 
Translations,  use  of,  127^ 

Waller,  William,  21 
Ware,  Mary  C.,47 
Whately,  Richard,  123 
White,  Richard  Grant,  146-150 
Women,  social  literary  work  for,  151-155 
Wordsworth,  William,  21,  189. 


SUQQESTIONS  FOR  LIBRARIES 


Bibliographies  are  generally  so  extensive  and  so  elaborate  as 
to  be  formidable  and  puzzling  to  most  persons  seeking  assist- 
ance in  making  up  a  library.  The  ordinary  publishers'  cata- 
logues are  often  still  more  puzzling.  This  little  bibliography 
comprises  a  series  of  lists  which  will  be  found  of  practical  use 
to  any  one  wishing  to  select  a  library  of  moderate  compass. 

These  lists  have  been  carefully  made  up  with  the  view  of 
noting  such  standard  books  as  should  be  comprised  in  any 
adequate  private  library. 

They  are  also  believed  to  include  the  books  best  suited  to 
form  the  basis  of  a  town  Public  Library. 

The  prices  are  the  publishers'  catalogue  prices  for  the  best 
current  editions  in  cloth  bindings,  except  when  otherwise 
specified.  Reductions  from  these  prices  can  be  expected 
when  a  considerable  purchase  is  made. 


CONTENTS 

A 

.  Reference  Books.    Pages  j  to  24 

I. 

Cyclopedias. 

6.  Atlases  and  Gazetteers 

2. 

English    Dictionaries    and 

7.  Biblical  Reference. 

Handbooks. 

8.  Classical  Reference. 

3. 

Dictionaries  of  Greek, 

9.   Poetical  Anthologies. 

Latin,    and   other   Lan- 

ID. Books  of  Quotations. 

guages. 

II.  Literary  Reference. 

4- 

Biographical  Reference. 

12.  Bibliography. 

5- 

Historical  Reference. 

13.  Miscellaneous. 

B.  Selected  List  of  Forty-two  Essential  Reference 
Books.    Page  2^ 


Pages  2j  to  79 

5.  History  of  Civilization. 

6.  Primitive  Society. 

7.  Ancient   History  :  General 

Works. 
8-24.  Individual  Countries. 


C.  The  Best  Histories. 

1.  General  Treatises. 

2.  Series. 

3.  Collective    Historical    Es 

says. 

4.  Philosophy    of    History 

Methods  of  Study. 

D.  Biography.    Pages  79  to  11  j 

1.  Series. 

2.  Collective  Works  and  Biographical  Studies. 

3.  Individual  Biographies — Historical  and  Political. 

4.  Individual  Biographies— Literary  and  Miscellaneous. 

E.  Selected  List  of  One  Hundred  Biographical  Works 

Page  114 

F.  Literature.    Pages  117  to  14J. 

Histories  of  Literature. — Studies  of  Particular  Epochs. 
— Critical  Essays  on  Individual  Authors. — Literary 
Essays. 

G.  Collected  Works  of  Standard  Authors.    Page  144 
H.  Fifty  Works  of  Standard  Fiction.    Page  160 


SUGGESTIONS  FOR  LIBRARIES 


Reference  Books, 


7.  Biblical  Reference. 

8.  Classical  Reference. 

9.  Poetical  Anthologies, 

10.  Books  of  Quotations. 

11.  Literary  Reference. 

12.  Bibliography. 

13.  Miscellaneous. 


1.  Cyclopedias. 

2.  English  Dictionaries  and 

Handbooks. 

3.  Greek,  Latin,  and  other 

Dictionaries. 

4.  Biographical  Reference. 

5.  Historical  Reference. 

6.  Atlases  and  Gazetteers. 
**  Changes  and  substitutions  are  occasionally  advisable,  on 

account  of  the  issue  of  new  important  works. 

Cyclopedias. 

Encyclopedia  Britannica.    A  Dictionary  of  Arts,  Sciences, 

and  General  Literature.      Edited  by  Prof.  T.  S.  Baynes 

and  Dr.  W.  R.  Smith.      loth  edition.     (This  includes  the 

9th,  and  a  supplement  of  11  vols.)     1902. 

35  vols.,  4° $175.00  to  $250  00 

Sets  of  the  cheaper  authorized  edition  (the  only  other  one  worth  con- 
sidering) may  be  had  in  good  second-hand  state  for  $60  to  $120. 

Chambers's  Encyclopaedia.  New  Edition  of  1900.  Re- 
written and  Enlarged  by  American  and  English  Editors. 
A  Dictionary  of  Universal  Knowledge,  containing  up- 
wards of  30,000  articles  ;  Illustrated  by  more  than  3500 
engravings;  over  11,000,000  words,  and  17,560  columns 
of  reading  matter. 
10  vols,  imperial  8° $50  00 

The  most  perfect  work   of  its  kind  ever  published  in   the  English 
language. 


4         SuQgeBtione  tot  Iboueebolo  Xibrarles 

Phyfe,  W.  H.  P. — Five  Thousand  Facts  and  Fancies. 

A  Cyclopaedia  of  Important,  Curious,  Quaint,  and  Unique 
Information  in    History,    Literature,    Science,    Art   and 
Nature. 
Half  leather.  Large  8°,  pp.  824,  (By  mail,  $3.40)    w^/ $3  00 

Chandler's    Encyclopedia.      An    Epitome    of    Universal 

Knowledge..    Edited  by  Wm.   Henry  Chandler,   Ph.D., 

F.C.S.     With  maps  and  engravings. 

3  vols.,  royal  8",  pp.  1710      .....  ne(  6  00 

A  new  inexpensive  work  that  has  been  received  with  a  good  deal  of 
favour. 

Champlin's    Young    Folks'    Cyclopedia    of   Common 
Things. 

I  vol.,  8°,  pp.  850.     Cloth $2  50 

Pearl  Cyclopedia.     A  handy  compendium  of  universal  in- 
formation, edited  by  E.  D.  Price,  F.G.S. 
I  vol.,  32°,  pp.  667 f I  00 

Contains  a  vast  amount  of  interesting  information  in  a  small  compass. 
Carefully  and  accurately  compiled. 

English  Dictionaries  and  Handbooks. 

Century   Dictionary.      An   Encyclopedic   Lexicon    of   the 

English  Language,  prepared  under  the  superintendence 

of   William   Dwight   Whitney,    Ph.D.,   LL.D.      (1889- 

1891). 

6  vols.,  4°,  pp.  7046    .....  net^/bo  CX) 

Skeat,  Rev.  W.  W.— Etymological  Dictionary  of  the 
English  Language.     Revised  edition. 
I  vol.,  4°,  pp.  844 net%\2.  00 

Skeat,  Rev.  W.  W. — Concise  Etymological  Diction- 
ary of  the  English  Language.     Revised  and  enlarged 
edition. 
I  vol.,  12°,  pp.  631 «^/$r  25 

Standard  Dictionary  of  the  English  Language. 

I  vol.,  4°,  pp.  2318.     Full  leather      .         .         «^/$io  00 


Suggestions  for  fjousebolO  Xibrarfes         5 

Stormonth,  James.— A  Dictionary  of  the  English  Lan- 
guage.    Pronouncing,   Etymological,  and  Explanatory. 
Embracing  scientific  and  other  terms,  and  a  copious  se- 
lection of  Old  English  words. 
I  vol.,  4°,  pp.  1234 |5  00 

Webster's    International    Dictionary  of  the   English 

Language.      Revised  and   enlarged  under  the   super- 
vision of  Noah  Porter,  D.D. 

I  vol.,  4°,  pp.  2126.     Half  morocco    .  .         «^/$i2  oo 

Roget's  Thesaurus  of  English  Words  and  Phrases. 

Classified  and  arranged  so  as  to  facilitate  the  expression 
of  ideas,  and  assist  in  literary  composition.     By  Peter 
Mark  Rc^et.     Last  English  edition,  much  enlarged  and 
improved,  and  with  a  full  index,  by  John  Lewis  Roget. 
I  vol.,  S\  pp.  271 $3  50 

Smith,  C.  J. — Synonyms  Discriminated  :  A  Dictionary 
of  Synonymous  Words  in  the  English  Language,  illus- 
trated with  quotations  from  standard  writers.  With  the 
author's  latest  corrections  and  additions.  Edited  by 
Rev.  H.  P.  Smith, 
"i  vol.,  12°,  pp.  780 net %2  00 

Soule,  Richard. — Dictionary  of  English  Synonyms  and 

Synonymous,  or  Parallel,    Expressions.     Revised  by  G. 

H.  Howison,  LL.D,     Designed  as  a  practical  guide  to 

aptness  and  variety  of  phraseology. 

1  vol.,  8°,  pp.  488 $2  00 

Dickson,  W.  B. — Modern  Punctuation.  A  Book  for 
Stenographers,  Business  Men,  and  the  General  Public. 
With  a  complete  vocabulary  of  business  terms,  showing 
proper  orthography,  etc. 

I  vol.,  16°,  pp.  127 75  cts. 

"A  most  practical  and  comprehensive  little  volume." — Observer. 


6         Suflgestions  tor  "fcouscbolO  Xlbrarics 

Phyfe,  W.  H.  P.— Ten  Thousand  Words  Often  Mis- 
pronounced.  A  complete  handbook  of  difficulties  in 
English  pronunciation.  Including  an  unusually  large  num- 
ber of  proper  names  and  words  from  foreign  languages. 
A  Revised  and  Enlarged  Edition,  with  a  Supplement  of 
3000  Additional  Words. 
I  vol.,  16° ,  net  $1  00 

Five  Thousand  Words  Commonly  Misspelled. 

A  carefully  selected  list  of  words  difficult  to  spell,  together 
with  directions  for  spelling,  and  for  the  division  of  words 
into  syllables  ;  with  an  appendix  containing  the  rules  and 
list  of  amended  spellings  recommended  by  the  Philologi- 
,cal  Society  of  London,  and  the  American  Philological 
Association. 
I  vol.,  16° 75  cts. 

Compton,  Alfred  G.— Some  Common  Errors  of  Speech. 

Suggestions  for  the  Avoiding  of  Certain  Classes  of  Errors, 
together  with  Examples  of  Bad  and  Good  Usage. 
12° 75  cts. 

Greek,  Latin,  French,  and  other  Dictionaries. 

Liddell  and  Scott. — Greek-English  Lexicon. 

I  vol.,  royal  8°,  pp.  1776.     Leather     .         .         «^^$io  00 

Yonge,  C.  D.— English-Greek  Lexicon. 

I  vol.,  royal  8°,  pp.  779.     Leather      .         .         .  «<•/ $4  50 

Lewis  and  Short. — Latin-English  Dictionary. 

I  vol.,  royal  8°,  pp.  2019.     Leather     .         .         .  ngi$6  50 
Based  on  Andrews's  edition  of  Freund's  Dictionary. 

White,  J.  T.— English-Latin  Lexicon. 

1  vol.,  12°.     Leather «^/$i  75 

Fleming  and    Tibbins.  —  Grand    dictionaire    anglais- 
fran^ais  et  frangais-anglais. 

2  vols.,  royal  8°.     Half  morocco.         .         .  net  %22  00 


Suggestions  for  "fcousebolO  Xlbrarics         7 

Spiers  and  Surenne's  French  and  English  Pronouncing 
Dictionary,  composed  from  the  French  Dictionaries  of 
the  French  Academy,  Laveaux,  Bescherelle,  etc.,  and 
from  the  English  Dictionaries  of  Webster,  Worcester, 
Johnson,  etc.  With  a  Vocabulary  of  Names,  Mythologi- 
cal and  Classical,  Ancient  and  Modem. 
I  vol.,  8°,  pp.  1320.     Half  leather       .         .         .        $5  oo 

Gasc,  Ferdinand.  —  French-English  and  English- 
French  Dictionary. 

1  vol.,  8° $2  25 

Fliigel,  Dr.  Felix.— A  Universal  English-German  and 
German- English    Dictionary.       Two  parts  in   three 
volumes.     Fourth,  entirely  remodelled,  edition. 
3  vols.,  royal  8",  pp.  2739.     Half  morocco   .      ml    $16  50 

Fliigel's  German  and  English  Dictionary.  Abridged 
edition. 

2  vols.,  8° «^/$6  50 

Whitney,  W.  D.— German-English  and  English-Ger- 
man Dictionary. 
I  vol.,  8° net%2  so 

Velazquez,  Seoane,  Neuman,  and  Baretti. —  A  Pro- 
nouncing Dictionary  of  the  Spanish  and  English 
Languages,  composed  from  the  Spanish  Dictionaries  of 
the  Spanish  Academy,  Terreros,  and  Salva,  and  from  the 
English  Dictionaries  of  Webster,  Worcester,  and  Walker. 
Including  also  Idioms,  Familiar  Phrases,  and  Irregular 
Verbs.  In  two  parts,  Spanish-English  and  English- 
Spanish. 

1  vol.,  8°,  pp.  1290.     Half  leather  .         .        $5  00 

Millhouse — New  English  and  Italian  Pronouncing  and 
Explanatory  Dictionary,  by  John  Millhouse,  with 
many  corrections  and  new  additions  by  Prof.  Ferdinand 
Bracciforti,  LL.D.     Seventh  edition,  1897. 

2  vols.,  12°,  pp.  731  and  843        .         .         .         .         $5  50 


8         Suggcetione  for  1)oudebold  Uibcartes 

Biographical  Reference. 

Appleton's  Cyclopedia  of  American  Biography.  Edited 
by  J.  G.  Wilson  and  John  Fiske. 

7  vols.,  royal  8°, net%y^  oo 

Sixty  steel  plates  and  2000  wood  engravings. 

Century  Cyclopedia  of  Names.     A  Pronouncing  and  Ety- 
mological Dictionary  of  Names  in  Geography,  Biography, 
Mythology,  History,  Ethnology,  Art,   Archaeology,   Fic- 
tion, etc.     Edited  by  Benjamin  E.  Smith,  A.M. 
I  vol.,  4°,  pp.  1085 net%\o  00 

Champlin,  John  D.,  Jr. — Young  Folks'  Cyclopedia  of 
Persons  and  Places.     Revised  edition.   1900. 

1  vol.,  8°,  pp.  936.     Illustrated  .         .         .  net%2  50 

Lippincott's  Biographical  Dictionary.  Universal  Pro- 
nouncing Dictionary  of  Biography  and  Mythology.  By 
Joseph  Thomas,  M.D.,  LL.D.     Revised  edition. 

2  vols.,  royal  8°,  pp.  2550    ....         m^/$I500 

Stephen,  Leslie,  and  Lee,  Sidney.— Dictionary  of  Na- 
tional [English]  Biography. 

66  vols.,  8° «^/|330  00 

A  monumental  work,  now  complete. 

Men  and  Women  of  the  Time.     A  Dictionary  of  Contem- 
poraries,   containing    Biographical    Notes    of    Eminent 
Characters  of  both  Sexes.     14th  revised  edition, 
r  vol.,  thick  8°,  pp.  1000 $6  00 

Who's   Who.      Edited   by  Douglas  Sladen.      An  Annual. 

I  vol.,  12°,  pp.  1795 $2  00 

"There  are  many  kinds  of  information  to  be  found  in  Who's  Who 
which  cannot  be  found  in  any  other  book  of  reference,  and  it  is  the  first 
annual  British  biographical  dictionary." 

Who's  Who  in  America.     A  Biographical  Dictionary  of 
Living  Men  and  Women  of  the  United  States.     Edited 
by  John  W.  Leonard. 
I  vol.,  8",  pp.  1669 net%},  50 


Suggeetfoitd  for  t>oudeboId  Xibrartea         9 

Historical  Reference. 

Adams,  Prof.  C.  K. — Manual  of  Historical  Literature. 
Comprising  brief  descriptions  of  the  most  important  his- 
tories.   Together  with  practical  suggestions  as  to  methods 
and  courses  of  historical  study.     Revised  edition. 
I  vol.,  12°,  pp.  720 $2  50 

Brewer,  Rev.  E.  Cobham,  LL.D. — The  Historic  Note 
Book.     With  an  Appendix  of  Battles.     1896. 
I  vol.,  8°,  pp.  997.     Half  morocco      .         .         .         $3  50 

Explains  with  brevity,  allusions  to  historical  eventSj  treaties,  customs 
terms,  and  phrases,  made  in  books,  speeches,  ahd  famihar  conversation. 

Harper's  Book  of  Facts.   A  Classified  History  of  the  World 
embracing  Science,  Literature,  and  Art.      Compiled  by 
Joseph  H.  Willsey.     Edited  by  Charlton  T.  Lewis. 
I  Vol.,  8°,  pp.  954 net%^  00 

Haydn's  Dictionary  of  Dates.     Relating  to  all  Ages  and 
Nations,  for  Universal  Reference.    24th  edition.     Con- 
taining the  History  of  the  World  to  the  Autumn  of  1905, 
By  Benjamin  Vincent. 
I  vol.,  royal  8",  pp.  I166 net  $6  00 

The  most  comprehensive  and  reliable  book  of  reference  in  this  depart- 
ment ever  published. 

"  A  dated  cyclopedia,  a  digested  summary  of  human  history.  Alto- 
gether indispcDsabic."— London  Spectator. 

Heilprin,  Louis.— Historical  Reference  Book.  Com- 
prising a  Chronological  Table  of  Universal  History  ;  a 
Chronological  Dictionary  of  Universal  History  ;  a  Bio- 
graphical Dictionary  with  Geographical  Notes.  For  the 
use  of  Students,  Teachers,  and  Readers.  Revised  edition. 
I  vol.,  8°,  pp.  590 $2  00 

Labberton,  R.  H. — Historical  Atlas.     3800  b.c.  to  1886 

A.D. 
I  vol.,  royal  8°    ......         .  nel%i  40 

Harper's  Encyclopaedia  of  United  States  History.    From 

458  A.D.   to  1902. 

10  vols.,  royal  8°,  pp.  5000  ....         «^/$3i  00 


lo        Sufigeattons  foe  "fcousebolO  Xibrarlcs 

Low,  S.  J.,  and  Pulling,  F.  S. — Dictionary  of  English 
History.     Revised  edition. 

I  vol.,  8°,  pp.  1 128 $3  50 

An  invaluable  work  for  the  general  reader  as  well  as  for  the  student. 


Atlases  and  Gazetteers. 

Bartholomew,  J.  G.— The  Pocket  Atlas  of  the  World. 

A  comprehensive  and  popular  series  of  maps,  illustrating 
political  and  physical  geography.  144  maps  and  plans, 
with  statistical  taBlesand  index,     nth  edition,  revised. 

I  vol.,  32° $1  25 

A  marvellous  little  book. 

• ■  Graphic  Atlas  and  Gazetteer  of  the  World.   • 


I  vol.,  4°,  128  maps  and  268  pp.     Half  morocco,  «<"/ $3  50 

Century  Atlas  of  the  World.     Prepared  under  the  superin- 
tendence of  Benjamin  E.  Smith,  editor  of  the  Century 
Dictionary. 
I  vol.,  large  4° rut%ii  50 

Cram's  Standard  American  Railway  System  Atlas  of 
the  World. 
I  vol.,  folio net%i'i  50 

This  atlas  is  unattractive  mechanically,  but  is  the  one  that  is  most 
thorough  in  detail  and  up-to-date,  as  to  the  maps  of  the  United  States. 

Johnston's  Royal  Atlas  of  Modern  Geography.  Exhib- 
iting, in  a  series  of  entirely  original  and  authentic  maps, 
the  present  condition  of  geographical  discovery  and  re- 
search in  the  several  countries,  empires,  and  states  of  the 
world.  By  the  late  Alexander  Keith  Johnston,  Geog- 
rapher to  the  Queen.  With  additions  and  corrections  to 
the  present  date  by  F.  B.  Johnston,  with  a  special  index 
to  each  map.  Revised  edition. 
I  vol.,  folio.     Half  morocco         .         .         .  n£(%29  00 

The  best  modern  atlas. 


Su9gc6tion0  for  "fcouseboID  Xibrarfee        n 

The  Times  Atlas.  Containing  ii8  pages  of  maps,  com- 
prising 175  maps  and  an  alphabetical  index  of  130,000 
names.     Published  by  The  London  Times. 

1  vol.,  folio.     Half  morocco  .         .         .       net  %\C)  50 

Perhaps  the  most  satisfactory  general  atlas  at  a  moderate  price.  It  is 
much  less  cumbersome  than  any  other  work  of  equal  fulness.  If.it  is 
desired  to  have  the  United  States  in  fullest  detail,  an  American  business 
atlas  is  necessary.  There  is,  however,  no  American  atlas  thak.  is  as  satis- 
factory for  the  rest  of  the  globe. 

Rand  and  McNally's  New  Standard  Atlas  of  the 
World.  Containing  large  scale  maps  of  every  country 
and  civil  division  upon  the  face  of  the  globe,  together 
with  historical,  descriptive,  and  statistical  matter  relative 
to  each.  Illustrated  by  colored  diagrams,  showing  area, 
population,  etc. 

2  vol.,  folio •        .         .       $22  50 

Smith,  Dr.  William,  and  Grove,  George.— Atlas  of 
Ancient  Geography,  Biblical  and  Classical.     The 

biblical  maps  from  recent  surveys,  and  the  classical  maps 
drawn  by  Dr.  Charles  Miller.     43  maps,  descriptive  text, 
and  indices. 
I  vol.,  folio.     Half  morocco         .         .         .         «^/$40  00 

Longman's  Gazetteer  of  the  World.      Edited  by  Chis- 
holm. 
I  vol.,  royal  8°,  pp.  1774.     Half  morocco    .  »e'/$I5  00 

Lippincott's  Gazetteer  of  the  World.     Revised  edition. 
I  vol.,  royal  8°,  pp.  2635.     Half  morocco    .         mi%\o  00 

Johnston's  Terrestrial  Globe.     Thirty  inches  in  diameter, 

and  mounted  on  high  stand  with  brass  meridian. 

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This  is  made  by  the  famous  Edinburgh  geographical  publishers.  It  is 
the  most  accurate  and  the  handsomest  globe  that  is  made.  Smaller  sizes, 
18  and  t2  inches  in  diameter,  are  also  made. 


12        Suggestions  for  "fcouscboio  Xfbraries 

Pocket  Gazetteer  of  the  World.    Edited  by  J,  G.  Barthol- 
omew. 
I  vol.,  i6°,  pp.  630 $1  00 

Gives  in  small,  convenient  compass  a  concise  and  accurate  description 
of  every  place  of  importance  in  the  world. 

The  number  of  places  mentioned  is  about  35,000,  and  great  care  has 
been  taken  to  insure  accuracy. 

"  The  most  remarkable  book  that  has  come  to  our  hands." — Journal 
of  Education. 

Peck,    William,    F.R.A.S.  —  Popular    Handbook    and 
Atlas  of  Astronomy.     Containing  44  large  plates  and 
numerous  illustrations,  diagrams,  etc. 
I  vol.,  4°,  pp.  173 net%s  50 

Proctor,  R.  A.,  F.R.S. — Larger  Star  Atlas.     Showing 
6000  stars  and   1500  objects  of  interest  in    12   circular 
maps,  with  two  colored  index  plates. 
I  vol.,  folio  ......  «^/ $6  00 

Half  Hours  vrith  the  Stars.     A  Plain  and  Easy 

Guide  to  the  Knowledge  of  the  Constellations,  showing 

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principal  star  groups,   night  after  night  throughout  the 

year. 

I  vol.,  4° $2  CO 

"  A  practical  help  to  the  student,  and  a  valuable  book  of  reference  to 
the  scholar." — yournal  0/ Education. 

Biblical  Reference. 

Cruden,  Alexander.— A  Complete  Concordance  to  the 
Old  and  NeTW  Testaments  :  or  a  Dictionary  and  Alpha- 
betical Index  to  the  Bible. 
I  vol.,  8°,  pp.  720 $1  50 

McClintock,  J,,  and  Strong,  J. — Cyclopedia  of  Bibli- 
cal, Theological,  and  Ecclesiastical  Literature. 
12  vols.,  8°,  pp.  12,373         ....  net%/bo  00 

"  This  cyclopedia  is  designed  to  be  a  manual  of  sacred  literature  for 
the  use  of  clergymen,  students,  and  general  readers,  so  complete  in  itself 
that  no  other  work  will  be  necessary  for  ordinary  purposes  of  reference 
in  these  branches  of  knowledge.  It  is  the  most  comprehensive  work  of 
the  kind  in  our  language." 


Suddeetione  for  fjousebold  Xibrariee        13 

Schaff-Herzog. — Religious  Encyclopedia ;  or,  Dictionary 
of  Biblical,  Historical,  Doctrinal,  and  Practical  The- 
ology. Based  on  the  Real-Encyklopadie  of  Herzog, 
Plitt,  and  Hauck.  Edited  by  Philip  Schaff.  Together 
with  an  Encyclopedia  of  Living  Divines  and  Christian 
Workers  in  Europe  and  America. 
4  vols.,  royal  8°,  pp.  3600   ....  net  %20  00 

Smith,  Dr.  William,  and  Fuller,  Rev.  J.  M. — Dictionary 
of  the  Bible.  Comprising  its  Antiquities,  Biography, 
Geography,  and  Natural  History.  New  and  revised 
edition, — practically  a  new  work. 

4  vols.,  royal  8°,  pp.     Half  leather      .         .  net%yi  00 

Fully  illustrated. 

Smith,  Dr.  William,  and  Cheetham,  Samuel. — Diction- 
ary of  Christian  Antiquities.    Comprising  the  History, 
Institution,  and  Antiquities  of  the  Christian  Church,  from 
the  Time  of  the  Apostles  to  the  Age  of  Charlemagne. 
2  vols.,  royal  8',  pp.  2081    ....         net %iq  00 

Fully  illustrated. 

Smith,  Dr.  William,  and  Wace,  Henry. — Dictionary  of 

Christian  Biography,  Literature,  Sects,  and  Doctrines 

during  the  First  Eight  Centuries.     Being  a  continuation 

of  the  Dictionary  of  the  Bible. 

4  vols.,  8°,  pp.     Half  leather       .         .         .         «^/'$32  0o 

This  work,  with  the  Dictionary  of  Christian  Antiquities,  forms  a  com- 
prehensive^  cyclopedia  of  ecclesiastical  history  of  the  first  eight  centuries 
of  the  Christian  era. 

Young,  Robert,  LL.D. — Analytical  Concordance  to  the 
Bible.  Containing  every  word  in  alphabetical  order, 
with  the  literal  meaning  of  each.  In  all  about  311,000 
references.  With  full  information  on  Biblical  Gec^raphy 
and  Antiquities. 
I  vol.,  4°,  pp.  1 105 «<f/$5  00 


14        Suflgcstfone  for  ■|)ou6cbol5  Xtbtarica 

Classical  Reference. 

Ginn's  Classical  Atlas  in  23  colored  maps,  with  complete 
index. 
I  vol.,  8°,  23  maps  and  31  pp.      ....  net%2  00 

Harper's  Dictionary  of  Classical  Literature  and  An- 
tiquities. Edited  by  Harry  Thurston  Peck,  M.A., 
Ph.D.     Illustrated. 

1  vol.,  4°,  pp.  1 701 net^  00 

The  newest  and  by  far  the  most  comprehensive  work  in  a  single 
volume. 

Smith,  Dr.  William,  and  others,  Editors. — A  Dictionary 
of  Greek  and  Roman  Antiquities.  Third  edition, 
revised  and  enlarged. 

2  vols.,  8°,  pp.  2120.     Half  leather      .         .  net%\%  00 
950  illustrations. 

Smith,  Dr.  William,  Editor. — Dictionary  of  Greek  and 
Roman  Biography  and  Mythology. 

3  vols.,  royal  8°,  pp.  37CX).    Half  leather      .  net%2^  00 
560  illustrations. 

Dictionary  of  Greek  and  Roman  Geography. 

2  vols.,  royal  8°,  pp.  2500.    Half  leather  net%\b  00 

530  illustrations. 

Smith,    Sir  William,  and  Marindin,  G.  E. — Classical 
Dictionary  of  Greek  and  Roman  Biography,  Myth- 
ology, and  Geography.     Based  on  the  larger  diction- 
aries, revised  throughout,  and  partly  rewritten. 
I  vol.,  8°,  pp.  1018.     Half  leather       .         .         .         $6  00 

Seyffert,  Prof.  Otto. — Dictionary  of  Classical  Antiqui- 
ties,  Mythology,   Religion,   Literature,   and   Art. 
Edited  by  Prof.  Henry  Nettleship  and  Dr.  J.  E.  Sandys. 
I  vol.,  8°,  pp.  716 «^/$2  25 


Suggedtioiid  for  'boueebold  Xibraries        15 

Poetical  Anthologies. 

Adams,  Estelle  Davenport. — The  Poets'  Praise. 

I  vol.,  8°,  qt.,  pp.  407 net%i  oo 

From  Homer  to  Swinburne. 

Bryant,  William   Cullen. — A  New  Library  of  Poetry 
and  Song. 
I  vol.,  8° $5  00 

Chambers,  Edmund  K. — English  Pastorals. 

I  vol.,  12°,  pp.  280     ...*..        fr  50 

Chandler,  Horace  Parker. — The  Lovers'  Year-Book  of 

Poetry, 
istseries,  2  vols.,  12°.  Love  Prior  to  Marriage,       $2  50 
2d  series,  2  vols.,  12°.  Married  Life  and  Child  Life,  2  50 
3d  series,  2  vols.,  12°.  The  After  Life  2  50 

A  collection  of  love  poems  for  every  day  in  the  year. 

Coates,    Henry    T.  —  The    Fireside    Encyclopedia   of 
Poetry. 
I  vol.,  8° $3  50 

Dana,  Charles  A. — The  Household  Book  of  Poetry. 
I  vol.,  8°,  pp.  862 $5  00 

Eggleston,  George  Cary. — American  War  Ballads  and 
Lyrics. 
I  vol.,  16°,  pp.  504 $r  50 

A  collection  of  the  songs  and  ballads  of  the  Colonial  Wars,  The  Revo- 
lution, the  War  of  1812,  the  war  with  Mexico,  and  the  Civil  War. 

Emerson,  Ralph  Waldo. — Parnassus. 

I  vol.,  8" $3  00 

A  collection  of  poetry.     With  an  introductory  essay. 

Fields,  James  T.,  and  Whipple,  Edwin  P.— The  Family 
Library  of  British  Poetry. 
I  vol.,  royal  8°,  pp.  1028.     .         .  .         .         $5  00 

From  Chaucer  to  present  time. 


i6        Suggcstiong  for  f)OusebolD  Xlbrarics 

Gilman,  Arthur. — The  Kingdom  of  Home. 

I  vol.,  8°,  pp.  249 $3  50 

Hales,  J.  W. — Longer  English  Poems. 

.    I  vol.,  16° $1   10 

With  notes,  philological  and  explanatory,  and  an  introduction  on  the 
teaching  of  English. 

Kendrick,  Asahel  C. — Our  Poetical  Favorites. 

I  vol.,  12°,  pp.  1025    .         .         .         .         .         .         $2  00 

A  selection  of  the  best  minor  poems  of  the  English  language. 

Lang,  Andrew. — The  Blue  Poetry  Book. 

1  vol.,  12°,  pp.  351.     Illustrated         .         .         .         $2  00 

O'Donnell,  Jessie  F. — Love  Poems  of  Three  Centuries. 

2  vols.,   16° $2   00 

English,  Scottish,  Irish,  American. 

Palgrave,  Francis  T. — The  Golden  Treasury,  ist  and 

2d  series. 

1st  series,  i  vol.,  16°,  pp.  382      .         .         .         .  $1  00 

2d  series,  i  vol.,  16°,  pp.  275       .         .         .         .  i  00 

Selected  from  the  best  songs  and  lyrical  poems  in  the  English  language 
and  arranged  with  notes. 


The  Treasury  of  Sacred  Song. 

I  vol.,  16°,  pp.  375 $1  50 

Selected  from  the  English  lyrical  poetry  of  four  centuries. 

The  Children's  Treasury  of  English  Song. 


I  vol.,  16° |i  <x> 

Percy,  Thomas. — Reliques  of  Ancient  English  Poetry. 

I  vol.,  12°,  pp.610 $1  50 

Old    heroic    ballads,    songs,   and   other  pieces   of    the  earlier    poets 

together  with  some  of  later  date. 

Simonds,  Arthur  B. — American  Song. 

I  vol.,  12",  pp.  310 $1  50 

A  collection  of  representative  American  poems,  with  analytical  and 
critical  studies  of  the  writers. 


Suggedtiond  for  fjousebolD  Xtbrariee        17 

Stedman,  Edmund  Clarence. — A  Victorian  Anthology, 

1837-1895. 

I  vol.,  8°,  pp.  744 $2  50 

Selections  illustrating  the  editor's  critical  review  of  British  poetry  in 
the  reign  of  Victoria. 

An  American   Anthology.     178  7-1 899.     Selections  illus- 
trating the  editor's  critical  review  of  American  Poetry  in 
the  19th  Century. 
I  vol..  8°,  pp.  878       .         .         .         .        .         .        $3  00 

Thompson,  Slason. — The  Humbler  Poets. 

I  vol.,  crown  8°,  pp.  459     .         .         .         .         .         $2  00 
A  collection  of  newspaper  and  periodical  verse,  1870-1885. 

Ward,  Thomas  Humphry. — The  English  Poets.     Selec- 
tions with   critical  introductions  by  various  writers,  and 
general  introduction  by  Matthew  Arnold. 
4  vols.,  12* $5  00 

Whittier,  John  Greenleaf. — Child  Life  in  Poetry. 

I  vol.,  sq.  8°,  pp.  263  .         .....         $2  00 

Songs   of  Three   Centuries.      Selected   and  with 

introductory  essay. 
I  vol.,  8° $2  50 

Quotations. 

Allibone,  S.  A. — Dictionary  of  Prose  Quotations. 

Socrates  to  Macaulay.     i  vol.,  8°  .         $3  00 

Dictionary  of  Poetical  Quotations. 

I  vol.,  8° $3  00 

Ballou,  M.  M. — A  Treasury  of  Thought.     .An  Encyclo- 
pedia of  Quotations. 
I  vol.,  8°,  pp $3  50 

Bartlett,  John,  Familiar  Quotation.     A  Collection  of 
Passages,  Phrases,  and  Proverbs.     Traced  to  their  Sources 
in  Ancient  and  Modern  Literature. 
Ninth  edition,     i  vol.,  8°,  pp.  1158    .         .         .        $3  00 


i8        Sugflestions  for  f)ouseboID  Xibraries 

King,  W.  F.  H.— Classical  and  Foreign  Quotations. 

I  vol.,    12° $2    OO 

Wood,  Rev.  James. — Dictionary  of  Quotations. 

I  vol.,  8° $2  50 

Wood,  Katharine  B. — Quotations  for  Occasions. 

I  vol.,  12°,  pp.  217      ......         $1    50 

Reynolds,  Cuyler.  Classified  Quotations.  (A  reissue  of 
"  The  Banquet  Book.")  Designed  for  General  Reference 
and  also  as  an  Aid  in  the  Preparation  of  the  Toast-List, 
the  After-Dinner  Speech,  and  the  Occasional  Address, 
together  with  Suggestions  Concerning  the  Menu  and 
Certain  other  Details  Connected  with  the  Proper  Ordering 
of  the  Banquet. 
16°.     Full  leather «(•/  $2  50 

Harboth,  T.  B.— Dictionary  of  Classical  Quotations. 

With  Author  and  Subject  Indexes. 
I  vol.,  8°,  pp.  648 $2  00 

Blackman,  R.  D. — Dictionary  of  Foreign  Phrases  and 
Classical  Quotations :   A  Treasury  of  Reference  for 
Writers  and  Readers  of  Current  Literature. 
I  vol.,  12°,  pp.  262      ......         $1   25 

Hoyt,  J.  K.— Cyclopedia  of  Practical  Quotations,  Eng-. 

lish,  Latin,  and  Modern  Foreign  Languages.     Names, 
Dates,  and  Nationality  of  Quoted  Authors,  with  Copious 
Indexes.     Revised  edition. 
I  vol.,  8°,  pp.  1 1 78 w^-^fG  00 

Literary  Reference. 

Bartlett,  John. — A  New  and  Complete  Concordance  or 
Verbal  Index  to  Words,  Phrases,  and  Passages  in 
the  Dramatic  Works  of  Shakespeare,  with  a  Supple- 
mentary Concordance  to  the  Poems.     Revised  edition. 
I  vol.,  4°,  pp.  1910      .         .         .         .         .         .  «^/$7  50 


Suddeetioiid  for  f^ousebold  Xibrarted        19 

Bradshaw,   John.  —  A  Concordance    to    the    Poetical 
Works  of  John  Milton. 
I  vol.,  8°,  pp.  412 «^/$4  00 

Brewer,  Rev.  E.  C. — Dictionary  of  Phrase  and  Fable, 

giving   the    Deriviation,   Source,  or   Origin  of  Common 

Phrases,  Allusions,  and  Words  that  have  a  Tale  to  Tell. 

New  edition,  revised  and  enlarged. 

I  voL,  8°,  pp.  1440.     Half  leather      .         .         .         $3  50 

The   Reader's   Handbook  of  Allusions,    Refer- 
ences, Plots,  and  Stories.     With  two  appendices. 
I  vol.,  8°,  pp.  1170.     Half  morocco    .         .  $3  50 


Christy,  Robert. — Proverbs  and  Phrases  of  All  Ages. 
Classified  by  subjects  and  arranged  alphabetically. 
I  vol.,  pp.  1267.     Full  leather  .         .         .     ne(%3  50 

"  If  Mr.  Christy  has  not,  in  his  interesting  volumes,  exhausted  the 
wisdom  of  every  age  and  language,  he  has  at  least  come  nearer  doing  so 
than  any  previous  gleaner  in  nis  special  field." — Atlantic  Monthly. 

Matson,  H. — References  for  Literary  Workers. 

I  vol.,  8° $2  00 

A  collection  of  short  essays  on  representative  topics,  with  numerous 
references  to  fuller  sources  of^  information. 


Reddall,  H.  F. — Fact,  Fancy,  and  Fable:  A  new  hand- 
book for  ready  reference  on  subjects  commonly  omitted 
from  cyclopedias ;  comprising  Sobriquets,  Phrases,  Pseu- 
donyms, Political  Slang,  Contractions,  Red-Letter  Days, 
Technical  Terms,  Foreign  Phrases,  Americanisms,  etc. 
I  vol.,  8°,  pp.  536 $2  00 

Dickens  Dictionary.     A  Key  to  the  Characters  and  Princi- 
pal Incidents  in  the  Tales  of  Charles  Dickens.     By  Gil- 
bert A.  Pierce,  with  additions  by  William  A.  Wheeler. 
I  vol.,  12°,  pp.  573 $2  00 


20        Suflacstions  for  "fcousebolJ)  Xibraries 

Reid,  J.  B. — A  Complete  Word  and  Phrase  Concord- 
ance to  the  Poems  and  Songs  of  Robert  Burns, 

Incorporating  a  Glossary  of  Scotch  Words,  with  Notes. 
Index,  and  Appendix  of  Readings. 
I  vol.,  8°,  pp.  561 «^/$8  50 

Walsh,  W.  S. — Handbook  of  Literary  Curiosities. 

r  vol.,  12°,  pp.  1 100 $3  50 

Contains  an  immense  amount  of  interesting  and  amusing  information. 
A  good  book  to  turn  to  when  others  fail. 

Waverley  Dictionary.  An  Alphabetical  Arrangement  of 
all  the  Characters  in  Scott's  Novels,  with  a  descriptive 
analysis  of  each  character,  and  illustrative  selections  from 
the  texts.     By  May  Rogers. 

I  vol.,  12° ,         .         .         |2  00 

"  Excellently  arranged,  it  entirely  fulfills  its  design." — Nation. 

Wheeler,  W.  A. — Dictionary  of  the  Noted  Names  of 
Fiction.     Enlarged  edition,  with    appendix,  by   C.    G. 
Wheeler, 
r  vol.,  12° $2  00 

Wheeler,   W.   A.  and  C.    G. — Familiar   Allusions.     A 

Handbook  of  Miscellaneous  Information,  including  the 
Names  of  Celebrated  Statues,  Paintings,  Palaces,  Country 
Seats,   Ruins,   Churches,   Ships,   Streets,  Clubs,   Natural 
Curiosities,  and  the  like. 
I  vol.,  12° $2  00 

Bibliography. 

Adams,  Oscar  Fay. — A  Dictionary  of  American  Authors. 

Revised  edition. 
I  vol.,  8°,  pp.  522.     Enlai^ed     .         .         .         .        $3  50 

Allibone,  S.  A. — Critical  Dictionary  of  English  Litera- 
ture, and  of  British  and  American  Authors.     With 
supplement  by  John  Foster  Kirk. 
5  vols.,  royal  8° $22  50 


Suddeetione  (or  Dousebold  Xtbrariee        2t 

The  Best  Books.     A  Reader's  Guide  to  the  choice  of  the 

Best  Available  Books  in  every  department  of  Science, 

Art,  and  Literature,  with  the  dates  of  the  first  and  last 

editions,  and  the  price,  size,  and  publisher's  name  of  each 

book,  with  complete  authors'   and  subjects'  index.     By 

William  Swan  Sonnenschein.    This  work  is  a  revised  and 

rewritten  edition  of  Mr.  Sonnenschein's  previous  books, 

"The  Best  Books"  and  "A  Reader's  Guide." 

Revised  edition,  pp.  i  4°    .         .         .         •         $ 

"  It  would  be  difficult  to  exaggerate  the  usefulness  of  this  work,  or  to 
praise  too  highly  the  industry  of  the  compiler.  Turn  to  what  subject  we 
may,  we  find  the  best  current  books  which  the  reader  may  consult,  and 
the  prices  at  which  they  are  published." — London  Spectator. 


Best  Reading.     A  Classified  Bibliography  for  easy  reference. 

With  hints  on  the  selection  of  books,  on  the  formation 

of  libraries,  on  courses  of  reading,  etc. 

1st  series,  i  vol.,  12° $1  5° 

2d  series,  3d  series,  4th  series      .         .         .        Each  $1  00 


The   Library  of  Literary  Criticism    of   English  and 

American  Authors.      Edited  by  Chas.  Wells  Moulton. 

8  vols.,  royal  8°     .....         .       «^/ $40  00 

An  important  addition  to  critical  literature,  consisting  of  literary  and 

personal  criticisms  and  anecdotes  referring  to  all  the  important  authors 

known  to  English  literature,  with  copious  indexes. 


Bowker    and    lies.  —  Reader's    Guide    in    Economic, 
Social,  and  Political  Science.     Being  a  Classified  Bib- 
liography, with  Notes,  Indexes,  Courses  of  Reading,  etc. 
Edited  by  R.  R.  Bowker  and  George  lies. 
I  vol.,  12°,  pp.  169 net%\  00 


Poole  and  Fletcher. — Index  to  Periodical  Literature. 
Vol.  I..  2  parts,  royal  8°  [to  1881]     .         .         .m<-/$i6oo 


22        Suggestions  tot  "fcouscbolO  Xtbcarics 

Poole  and  Fletcher. — Continued. 

Vol.  II.,  royal  8°  [1882-87]       ,         .  .  .  net  %%  00 

Vol.  III.,  royal  8°  [1887-92]      .         .  .  .  «^/  8  00 

Vol.  IV.,  royal  8°  [1892-97]       .         .  .  .  net  10  00 

Vol.  v.,  royal  8"  [1897-1902]     .         .  .  .  «<-/  10  00 
Indexes  the  contents  of  nearly  150  periodicals. 

Index  to  Periodical  Literature.   Abridged  Edition.    iSrs- 
1899.     Edited  by  William  I.  Fletcher  and  Mary  Poole. 

Royal  8° «</$i2  00 

Nibld,  Jonathan. — Guide  to  the  Best  Historical  Novels. 

net%l  75 
Miscellaneous. 

Authors  and  Publishers. — A  Manual  of  Suggestions  for 
Beginners  in  Literature.  Comprising  a  description  of 
publishing  methods  and  arrangements,  directions  for  the 
preparation  of  MSS.  for  the  press,  explanations  of  the  de- 
tails of  book  manufacturing,  instructions  for  proof-read- 
ing, specimens  of  typography,  the  text  of  the  United  States 
Copyright  Law,  and  information  concerning  International 
Copyrights,  together  with  general  hints  for  authors.  By 
G.  H.  P.  and  J.  B.  P.  Seventh  edition,  rewritten,  with 
new  material. 
12° M<f/|i   75 

Bent,  S.  A. — Familiar  Short  Sayings  of  Great  Men. 

I  vol.,   12° $2    00 

Burke,  Sir  Bernard. — Genealogical  and  Heraldic  Dic- 
tionary of  the  Peerage  and   Baronetage  of  Great 
Britain  and  Ireland.     67th  edition.     Revised  1905. 
I  vol.,  royal  8°,  pp.  2221         ....       net  %12  00 

An  indisi>ensable  work  to  all  those  desiring  full  information  respecting 
the  lineage  and  families  of  the  titled  aristocracy  of  Great  Britain. 

Brewer,  Rev.  E,  C. — A  Dictionary  of  Miracles.     Imi- 
tative, realistic,  and  dogmatic.     With  illustrations. 
I  vol.,  8',  pp.  582.     Half  leather         .         .         .         $2  50 


SuflflcetioiiB  for  Ijouaeboio  libraries        23 

Champlin,  J.  D.,  Jr.,  and  Bostwick,  A.  E.— The  Young 
Folks'  Cyclopedia  of  Games  and  Sports. 
1  vol.,  8°,  pp.  831 $2  50 

Hazell's  Annual.     Edited  by  Rev.  E.  D.  Price. 

I  vol.,  12°   .  .  net%i  40 

An  annnaly  first  appearing  in  1886. 

The  current  issue  contains  2500  short  articles  on  current  political  and 
social  questions,  brief  biographies,  etc. 

Lalor,  J.  J.,  Editor. — Cyclopedia  of  Political  Science, 

Political  Economy,  and  the  Political  History  of  the 

United  States.     By  the  best  American  and  European 

writers. 

3  vols.,  8%  pp.  3000 net%i'-)  CO 

An  invaluable  work  of  reference,  articles  in  alphabetical  arrangement, 
from  a  few  lines  to  elaborate  special  treatises. 

Mulhall,  Michael  G.  (Fellow  of  the  Koyal  Statistical  So- 
ciety, etc.). — Dictionary  of  Statistics.  Revised  and 
enlarged  edition.     With  ten  colored  diagrams. 

I  vol.,  8°,  pp.  740 //^/$8  50 

"  The  quintessence  of  statistics." — Leroy  Beaulieu. 

Rossiter,  W. — An  Illustrated  Dictionary  of  Scientific 
Terms. 

I  vol.,   12°,  pp.   352 $1    75 

Accuracy  with  brevity  has  been  aimed  at.  Includes  about  14,000 
entries. 

Statesman's    Year    Book.       Edited   by    Martin,   later  by 
Keltie. 
I  vol.,  12° $3  50 

A  statistical  and  historical  annual  of  all  States  of  the  civilized  world. 
First  issued  in  1863. 

Wagner,  Leopold. — Names  and  their  Meaning :  A 
Book  for  the  Curious. 

8%  pp.  34  +  330 $1   50 

"  The  elucidation  of  old  sobriquets  and  nicknames  will  be  found  par- 
ticularly fruitful,  and  there  is  no  subject  treated  which  does  not  offer  some 
enlightenment.  Altogether  the  book  is  a  serviceable  one,  and  must  take 
its  place  amone  the  works  of  reference  which  writers  and  others  feel  a 
frequent  need  \ot"—N.  Y.  Tribune,     • 


24        SuQgcQUone  tor  1)oudebolO  Xibracied 

Walsh,  W.  S. — Curiosities  of  Popular  Customs  and 
of  Rites,   Ceremonies,  Observances,  and   Miscel- 
laneous Antiquities. 
I  vol.,  8°,  pp.  1018.     Half  leather      .         .         .        $3  50 

Whitaker,  J.     Almanack. 

I  vol.,  12° net$i  00 

An  annua/,  first  appearing  in  1869. 

World  Almanac  and  Encyclopedia. 

I  vol.,  8°,  p.  528.     Cloth        .         .         .         .         mr/ft  00 
An  annuai. 


Selected  List  of  Works 

Thai  are  Essential  as  a  Nucleus  of  Reference  Books 
for  a  Household  Library. 

41  Works.     58  Volumes.     Net  cost  about  $250. 

1.  Chambers's  Encyclopsdia.     10  v. 

2.  Champlin's  Young  Folk's  Cyclopedia,     i  v. 

3.  Webster's  International  Dictionary,     i  v. 

4.  Soule's  Synonyms,     i  v. 

5.  Phyfe's  7,000  Words  Mispronounced,     i  v. 

6.  Phyfe's  5,000  Words  Misspelled,     i  v. 

7.  Dickson's  Modern  Punctuation,     i  v. 

8.  Liddell  and  Scott's  Greek-English  Lexicon,     i  v. 

9.  Yonge's  English-Greek  Lexicon,     i  v. 

10.  Lew^is  and  Short's  Latin-English  Dictionary,     i  v. 

11.  White's  English-Latin  Dictionary,     i  v. 

12.  Fleming  and  Tibbin's  French  Dictionary.     2  v. 

13.  Fliigel's  German  Dictionary.     3  v. 

14.  Velasquez's  Spanish  Dictionary,     i  v. 

15.  Millhouse's  Italian  Dictionary.     2  v. 

16.  Haydn's  Dictionary  of  Dates,     i  v. 

17.  Heilprin's  Historical  Reference  Book,     i  v. 

18.  Brewer's  Historic  Note  Book,     i  v. 

19.  Adams's  Manual  of  Historical  Literature,     i  ▼. 

20.  Lippincott's  Biographical  Dictionary.     2  v. 

21.  The  Times  Atlas,     i  v. 

22.  Longman's  Gazetteer,     i  v. 

23.  Peck's  Atlas  of  Astronomy,     i  v. 

24.  Labberton's  Historical  Atlas,     i  v. 

25.  Young's  Bible  Concordance,     i  v. 

26.  Ginn's  Classical  Atlas,     i  v. 

27.  Harper's  Dictionary  of  Classical  Antiquities,    i  t. 

25 


26       Suflgestions  for  "fcoueebolO  Xlbractes 

28.  Palgrave's  Golden  Treasury.     2  v. 

29.  Coates's  Fireside  Cyclopedia  of  Poetry,     i  v. 

30.  Bartlett's  Shakespeare  Concordance,     i  v. 

31.  Bartlett's  Familiar  Quotations,     i  v. 

32.  Hoyt's  Cyclopedia  of  Practical  Quotations,     i  v. 

33.  Brewer's  Dictionary  of  Phrase  and  Fable,     i  v. 

34.  Brewer's  Reader's  Handbook,     i  v. 

35.  Christy's  Proverbs  and  Phrases  of  All  Ages.     2  v. 

36.  Reddall's  Fact,  Fancy,  and  Fable,     i  v. 

37.  Walsh's  Handbook  of  Literary  Curiosities,     i  v. 

38.  Walsh's  Curiosities  of  Popular  Customs  and  of 
Rites.     I  V. 

39.  Sonnenschein's  Best  Books.     2  v. 

40.  World  Almanac,     i  v. 

41-   Mulhall's  Dictionary  of  Statistics,    i  v. 


The  Best  Histories, 

"  Quamvis  enim  melius  sit  bene  facere  quam  noese,  prius  tamen  est 
nosse  quam  facere."  — Charlkmagne. 

"  History  is,  as  it  were,  the  portrait  or  lineament  and  not  a  bare  index 
or  catalogue  of  things  done  ;  and  without  the  how  or  the  why,  all  history 
xs  jejune  and  unprofitable." — Life  of  Lord  Keeper  Guilford. 

This  list  includes  only  works  in  the  English  language. 

The  best  available  current  edition  is  the  one  usually  quoted. 
In  some  instances  a  cheaper  and  inferior  edition  is  noted  in 
brackets. 

The  prices  are  for  ordinary  cloth  bindings. 

Under  some  di\'isions  a  few  works  are  included  which  are 
descriptive  rather  than  historical. 

Many  of  the  critical  comments  are  from  Adams'  Manual  of 
Historical  Literature  and  Sonnenschen's  Best  Books. 

Roughly,  there  are  950  volumes,  which,  it  is  estimated,  can 
b«  purchased  as  a  whole  for  about  $2250,  net.  The  books 
have  been  divided  into  three  classes,  indicated  by  a,  b,  and  c 
prefixed  to  each  title.  A  buyer  who  wishes  to  follow  the  sug- 
gestion of  the  compiler,  and  who  prefers  not  to  purchase  the 
entire  collection  at  one  time,  is  recommended  to  buy  the  books 
in  this  order.  Divided  thus,  the  number  of  volumes  and  t'le 
cost  would  be  :  a,  375  vols.,  $680  ;  b,  280  vols.,  $630  ;  c,  295 
vols.,  $940. 

A  List  of  the  Best  Histories. 

1.  General  Treatises. 

2.  Series. 

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4.  Philosophy    of    History. 
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6.  Primitive  Society. 

7.  Ancient    History :    Gen- 
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8.  The  Jews. 

9.  Egypt. 

10.  Greece. 

11.  Rome  and  Italy. 


12.  Mediaeval    and    Modern 
Europe. 

13.  France. 

14.  Germany. 

15.  Austria. 
Holland. 

Spain  and  Portugal. 
Switzerland. 
Scandinavia. 
Russia. 

21.  China.     Japan. 

22.  Great  Britain. 

23.  United  States. 

24.  Mexico.    South  America. 
West  Indies. 


16 

17. 
18. 
19. 
20. 


37 


28        Suggestions  tor  DousebolD  Xibcariee 

/.   General  Treatises. 

Adams,  Chas.  K.  {a). — Manual  of  Historical  Literature. 

Comprising  brief  descriptions  of  the  most  important  his- 
tories.    Together  with  practical  suggestions  as  to  methods 
and  courses  of  historical  study. 
I  vol.,  8°,  pp.  720 $2  50 

Ploetz,  Carl  {a). — Epitome  of  Ancient,  Mediaeval,  and 
Modern  History.     Translated,  with  extensive  additions, 
by  W.  H.  Tillinghast. 
I  vol.,  12° $3  00 

"  The  dry  bones  of  universal  history  have  nowhere  else  been  more  suc- 
cessfully articulated  and  mounted." — A. 

Freeman,  E.  A.  (a). — General  Sketch  of  History. 

1  vol.,  16° $1  40 

"  An  admirable  little  book,  whose  constant  aim  is  to  show  the  connec- 
tion in  history." — S. 

Fisher,  G.  P.  (a). — Outlines  of  Universal  History. 

2  vols.,  8°  [i  vol.,  12°,  $2.50]       .         .         .         .         $5  00 

"  This,  perhaps,  combines  more  excellencies  than  are  to  be  found  in 
any  other  single  work." — A. 

Andrews,  E.  B.  {b). — Brief  Institutes  of  General  His- 
tory. 
I  vol.,  12° $2  00 

"  A  good,  concise  sketch." — S. 

2.  Series. 

Story  of  the  Nations  (a). 

Each  work  in  1  vol.,  12°.     Per  vol.      .         .         .         fi   50 
Alexander's  Empire.     By  Prof.  J.  P.  Mahaffy. 
Assyria.     By  Z.  A.  Ragozin. 
Austria.     By  Sidney  Whitman. 
Bohemia.     By  C.  E.  Maurice. 
Hungary.     By  Prof.  A.  Vambery. 
Balkan  States.     By  William  Miller, 
Barbary  Corsairs.     By  S.  Lane-Poole. 


Suflgeationa  for  t>ougebolD  Xibrariee        29 

Story  of  the  Nations  {a). — Continued. 

Byzantine  Empire.     By  C.  W.  C.  Oman. 
Carthage.     By  Prof.  A.  J.  Church. 
Chaldea.     By  Z.  A.  Ragozin. 
Crusades.     By  T.  A.  Archer. 
Eg^pt,  Ancient.     By  Prof.  Geo.  Rawlinson. 
France : 

The  Franks.     By  Lewis  Sergeant. 

Mediaeval  France.     By  Prof.  Gustave  Masson. 

Modern  France.     By  Andre  Le  Bon. 
Germany.     By  S.  Baring-Gould. 
Goths.     By  Henry  Bradley. 
Great  Britain : 

Early  Britain.     By  Prof.  A.  J.  Church. 

Buildingthe  British  Empire.   By  A.T.Story.   2  vols. 

Modern  England.     By  Justin  McCarthy.     2  vols. 

Scotland.     By  John  Mackintosh. 

Ireland.     By  Emily  Lawless. 

Australasia.     By  Greville  Tregarthen. 

Canada.     By  J.  G.  Bourinot. 

British  Rule  in  India.     By  R.  W.  Frazer. 

Vedic  India.     By  Z,  A.  Ragozin. 

South  Africa.     By  G.  M.  Theal. 
Greece.     By  Prof.  J.  A.  Harrison. 
Hansa  To'wns.     By  Helen  Zimmern. 
Holland.     By  Prof.  J.  E.  Thorold  Rogers. 
Italy : 

Tuscan  Republics.     By  Bella  Duffy. 

Venice.     By  Alethea  Wiel. 

Sicily.     By  Prof.  E.  A.  Freeman. 
Japan.     By  David  Murray 
Jews.     By  Prof.  J.  K.  Hosmer. 

Jews  under  Rome.     By  W.  D.  Morrison. 
Media.     By  Z.  A.  Ragozin. 
Mexico.     By  Susan  Hale. 
Normans.     By  Sarah  O.  Jewett. 
Norway.     By  H.  H.  Boyesen. 


30       Suggesttons  for  iJousebolD  Xibcaries 

Story  of  the  Nations  (a). — Continued. 

Parthia.     By  Prof.  George  Rawlinson. 
Persia.     By  S.  G.  W.  Benjamin. 
Phoenicia.     By  Prof.  George  Rawlinson. 
Poland.     By  W.  R.  MorfiU. 
Portugal.     By  H.  Morse  Stephens. 
Rome.     By  Arthur  Gilman. 

Mediaeval  Rome.     1037-1535.     By  \Vm.  Miller. 
Russia.     By  W.  R.  MorfiU. 
Saracens.     By  Arthur  Gilman. 
Spain.     By  E.  E.  and  Susan  Hale. 

Modern  Spain.     By  M.  A.  S.  Hume. 

Moors  in  Spain.     By  S.  Lane-Poole. 

Christian  Recovery  of  Spain.     By  H,  E.  Watts. 
Switzerland.     By  Mrs.  Arnold  Hug  and  R.  Stead. 
The  Thirteen  Colonies.     2  v.     By  Helen  Smith. 
Turkey.     By  S.  Lane-Poole. 
Wales.     By  O.  M.  Edwards. 
West  Indies.     By  A.  K.  Fiske. 

3.  Collective  Historical  Essays. 

Creasy,  E.  A.  (b). — The  Fifteen  Decisive  Battles  of  the 
World,  (B.C.  490-A.D.  181 5). 
I  vol.,  8°.     [i  vol.,  12°,  sects.]  .        .        .        $6  00 

Marathon  to  Waterloo. 

Knox,  T.  W.  (A). — Decisive  Battles  since  Waterloo, 
I 824- I 885. 

I  vol.,  8° $2  50 

A  continuation  of  Creasy.      Ayacucho,  Peru,  1824,  to  Khartoum,  1885. 

Freeman,  E.  A.  {c). — Historical  Essays,  Four  Series. 
4  vols.,  8°;   o.p. $1400 

Froude,  J.  A.  (c). — Short  Studies  on  Great  Subjects. 

4  vols.,   12° $6  CO 

Macaulay,  T.  B.  {a). — Critical  and  Historical  Essays. 

ID  vols.,    12°.       [3  vols.,   12°,    $3.00]      .  .  .         $15    00 


SwQQe&Uone  (or  f)ou0ebold  Xibrarfes        3t 

Dollinger,  Dr.  J.  I.  von  (<r).— Studies  in  European  His- 
tory {trans. ). 
I  vol.,  8° $5  60 

Townsend,  Meredith. — Asia  and  Europe :     Studies  Pre- 
senting the  Conclusions  formed  by  the  Author  in  a  Long 
Life   Devoted  to  the  Subject  of  the  Relations  between 
Asia  and  Europe. 
8°.     (By  mail,  $1.65) «^/|i  50 

4.  Philosophy  of  History.     Methods  of  Study 
in  History. 

Bagehot,  Walter  («). — Physics  and  Politics. 

I  vol.,  12° $r  50 

Blackie,  Prof.  J.  S.  (a).— What  does  History  Teach  ? 

I  vol.,  16°   ........         $1  00 

Flint,   Prof.   R.   (<-).— The   Philosophy   of   History  in 
France  and  Germany. 

I  vol.,  8°     .         .         .  ....         $6  00 

Freeman,  Prof.  E.  A.  {c). — Methods  of  Historical  Study. 
I  vol.,  8° $3  00 

Harrison,  Frederic  (a). — The  Meaning  of  History. 

I  vol.,  12° $2  00 

Hegel,  G.  W.  F.  {c). — Lectures  on  the  Philosophy  of 
History. 
I  vol.,  12° |t  50 

Lecky,  W.  E.  H.  (a).— The  Political  Value  of  History. 

I  vol.,  12° 75  cts. 

Mahan,  Capt.  A.  T.  (^).— The  Influence  of  Sea  Power 
upon  History,  1660-1783. 
I  vol.,  8° $4  00 


32        Suddeetfons  for  f)ou0eboiD  Xibrariea 

Montesquieu,  Baron  de  (c). — The  Spirit  of  Laws. 

2  vols.  ,12° nei  $2  OO 

"  Lays  great  stress  on  the  influence  of  climate  and  physical  surround- 
ings on  civilization." — S- 

Rogers,  Prof.  J.  E.  T.  {c). — The  Economic  Interpreta- 
tion of  History. 
I  vol.,  8° $3  OO 

"  Prof.  Rogers  has  performed  a  useful  service  in  drawing  attention  to 
a  field  hitherto  unworted  except  by  himself." 

Schlegel,  F.  von  (c). — Lectures  on  the  Philosophy  of 
History. 
I  vol.,  12° net  $1  OO 


J.  History  of  Civilization. 

Buckle,  H.  T.  (b) — History  of  Civilization  in  England 

and  France,  Spain  and  Scotland. 

3  vols.,  12°     [2  vols.,  12",  I4.00,]        .         .         .         $6  00 

"  Evolves  and  explains  all  possible  occurrences  and  phenomena  accord- 
ing to  an  a  priori  necessity.  The  author  died  when  he  had  completed 
scarcely  more  than  the  introduction  of  the  work  he  had  planned." — S. 

Draper,  Prof.  J.  W.  (a). — History  of  the  Intellectual 

Development  of  Europe. 

2  vols.,  12° $3  00 

"  Maintains  that  civilization  has  progressed  only  as  faith  has  de- 
clined."— S. 

Guizot,  F.  P.  G.  {c). — History  of  Civilization  in  Europe. 

(a.d.  475-1789.) 

2  vols.,  12° $4  00 

"Capable  of  stirring  earnest  and  fruitful  thought  in  a  thoughtful 
student." — A. 

Lecky,  W.  E.  H.  (^).— History  of  European  Morals. 

(Augustus  to  Charlemagne.) 

2  vols.,  12"  [2  vols.,  12°,  $3.ooJ  .         .         .         .         $5  00 

"  Presents  the  moral  life,  first  of  Pagan,  and  then  of  ChristlanRome. 
Ends  with  an  essay  on  the  influence  ol  Cnristianity  upon  the  position  of 
woman  in  Europe,  — S. 


SwQQceUone  for  'fcoueebold  Xlbraciea        33 

6.  Frimitive  Society. 

Clodd,  Edward  (a).— Childhood  of  the  World  :  Man  in 
Early  Times. 

I  vol.,  16° $1  00 

"  Elementary  ;  very  good." — S. 

Fig^ier,  Louis  (c). — Primitive  Man. 

I  vol.,  12° $2  50 

"  A  popular  summary."— S. 

Keary,  C.  F.  (a). — The  Dawn  of  History :  An  Introduc- 
tion to  Prehistoric  Study. 
I  vol.,  12° $1   50 

Lafarg^ue,  Paul  {c). — The  Evolution  of  Property  from 
Savagery  to  Civilization. 

I  vol.,  12" $x  00 

Socialistic  standpoint. 

Laveleye,  E.  de  (<•)• — Primitive  Property. 

I  vol.,  8°  {out  of  print  and  scarce)        .         .         .         $4  oo 
History  of  community  in  property. 

Letoumeau,   Charles  (c). — Property:    Its  Origin    and 
Early  Development. 
I  vol.,  12° $1  25 

"  Good  compendium  of  facts  of  savage  life." — S. 

Lubbock,  Sir  John  (d). — The  Origin  of  Civilization  and 
Primitive  Condition  of  Man. 

I  vol.,  8" $5  00 

"  The  mental  and  social  condition  of  savages." — S. 

Maine,  Sir  H.  S.  (3). — Village  Communities  in  the  East 
and  West. 

I  vol.,  8° $3  50 

"  Contains  one  of  the  best  views  of  Feudalism  that  there  is." — S. 

McLennan,  J.  F.  (c). — Studies  in  Ancient  History. 

I  vol.,  8° net ^  00 

"  Finds  the  origin  of  society  in  marriage  by  capture.   A  book  of  curious 
and  extensive  learning" — S. 
3 


34        SuggesUone  for  ijoudebolD  Xlbrartes 

Rawlinson,  Canon  G.  (a). — The  Origin  of  Nations. 

I  vol.,   12°    . $1    50 

Popular. 

Tylor,  E.  B.  (a). — Researches  into  Early  History  of 
Mankind,  and  Development  of  Civilization. 

1  vol.,  8° $3  50 

Gesture-langiiage  ;  picture-writing ;  images  ;  stone  age  ;  fire,  cooking, 
and  vessels  ;  traditions  and  myths. 

{c). — Primitive  Culture  :  Researches  into  Myth- 
ology, Philosophy,  Religion,  Art,  Customs,  etc. 

2  vols.,  8° $7  CO 

"  Fascinating  work,  full  of  research.     Evolutional  point  of  view." — S. 

7.  Ancient  History  :    General  and  Comprehensive 
Works. 

Boughton,  Prof.  Willis  (a). — History  of  Ancient 
Peoples. 

1  vol.,  8°     .         .         .         .         .         .         ...         $2  00 

This  book  is  an  admirable  summary  of  a  considerable  body  of  litera- 
ture. 

Duncker,  Prof.  Max  (c). — History  of  Antiquity.    Trans- 
lated by  Dr.  Evelyn  Abbott. 
6  vols.,  8°    .......         .       $48  00 

A  work  of  very  high  reputation  and  original  research  ;  rather  too  ex- 
pensive perhaps  for  an  ordinary  collection. 

Layard,  Sir  A.  H.  {c). — Discoveries  in  the  Ruins  of 
Nineveh  and  Babylon  [1845-51]. 

3  vols. ,  8°    ......  .  net%\i^  00 

The  publication  of  this,  the  pioneer  work  of  its  kind,  created  a  pro- 
found sensation.  It  was  ca'.lea  the  "  most  extraordinary  work  of  the 
present  age." 

Peters,  Rev.  J.  P.,  D.D.  (c). — Nippur;  or  Explorations 
and  Adventures  on  the  Euphrates.  The  narrative  of 
the  University  of  Pennsylvania  Expedition  to  Babylonia 
in  the  years  1888-90. 

2  vols.,  8° $5  00 

"_A  fit  companion  for  the  classic  works  of  Layard  and  others.  It  is  a 
credit  to  American  learning." — Nation. 


Suggeetions  for  fjousebolO  libraries        35 

Rawlinson,  Canon  G.  (^). 

The  Five  Great  Monarchies  of  the  Eastern  World. 
The  Sixth  Oriental  Monarchy. 
The  Seventh  Oriental  Monarchy. 

5  vols.,  12° $6  25 

"  Rawlinson's  works  are  full  of  learnini;,  but  not  wholly  trustworthy. 
Point  of  view— the  absolute  authority  of  the  Hebrew  scriptures." — S. 

Smith,  Philip  (<>).— History  of  the  Ancient  World, 

3  vols.  ,8" $6  00 

"  The  ablest  and  most  consecutive  English  history  of  antiquity.     In- 
cludes Greece  and  Rome." — S. 

(<r). — Ancient  History  of  the  Ea^t,  from  the  Ear- 
liest Times  to  the  Conquest  by  Alexander  the 
Great. 

I  vol.,  12' $3  00 

An  excellent  student's  book. 


8.   The  yews. 

Josephus,  Flavins  (b). — History  of  the  Jews.  Translated 

by  W.  Whiston. 
4  vols.,  12°  .         .         .         .         .  .  .         $6  00 

By  a  learned  Jew,  who  lived  the  latter  half  of  the  first  century,  and 
was  present  at  the  siege  of  Jerusalem.  Covers  the  entire  history  of  the 
nation  to  the  fall  of  Jerusalem. 

Milman,  Dean  H.  H.  (/'). — History  of  the  Jews  from  the 
Earliest  Period  to  Modern  Times. 

3  vols.,  12° $5  25 

"  A  civil  and  military,  rather  than  a  theological,  history  of  the  Jews." 

—A. 

i>-  Egypt. 

Brugsch-Bey,    H.   (a). — History   of    Egypt    under    the 
Pharaohs. 

I  vol.,  8° $5  00 

"  Based  entirely  on  original  authorities,  bringing  together  the  results 

of  modern  monumental  research."' — A. 


36        SuggeetloiiB  for  ■t)ou0eboI^  llbrariee 

Maspero,  G.  (c). — The  Dawn  of  Civilization  :  Eg^pt  and 
Chaldea.     Edited  by  A.  H.  Sayce. 
I  vol.,  royal  8°     .         .         .         .         .         .         .         $7  50 

(i).  —  Egyptian    Archaeology.      Translated,    with 

notes,  by  Amelia  B.  Edwards. 

t  vol.,  12° $2  25 

The  authoritative  handbook  on  the  subject. 

-~— —  (a). — Life  in  Ancient  Egypt.     Translated  by  A.  P. 
Morton. 

I  vol.,  12° $1  50 

"  At  once  popular  and  leai^ed.     Describes  every-day  life." — S. 

Smyth,  C.  Piazzi  (c). — Our  Inheritance  in  the  Great 

Pyramid. 

I  vol.,  8° $6  50 

Wiedemann,  Prof.  A.  (6). — The  Religion  of  the  Ancient 

Eg^yptians. 

1  vol.,  8° $3  75 

E^pt  stands  pre-eminent  among  all  the  nations  of  antiquity  as  the 
land  in  which  every  civic  and  public  interest  was  dominated  oy  relig;ion. 

Wilkinson,  Sir  J.  G.  (6). — Manners  and  Customs  of  the 
Ancient  Egyptians. 

3  vols.,  8° $8  00 

"  No  student  of  ancient  Eg^pt  can  afford  to  neglect  it." — A. 

Lane,  E.  W.  (c). — Manners  and  Customs  of  the  Modern 
Egfyptians. 

2  vols.,  12°  .......         $5  00 

"  A  careful  and  minute  account  of  social  conditions  and  habits." — A. 

Edwards,  Amelia  B.  (d). — A  Thousand  Miles  up  the 
Nile. 
I  vol.,  8° $2  50 

10.  Greece. 
Herodotus  {b). — Works.    Translated  by  Rawlinson  and  Wil- 
kinson.    With  elaborate  annotations. 

4  vols.,  8°  [4  vols.,  8°,  $8.00]      ....       |i8  00 

"  The  '  Father  of  ICistory.'  Recent  researches  in  the  East  have  tended 
to  confirm  the  authority  of  Herodotus  in  all  matters  that  came  under  his 
personnl  observation," — A. 


SuggcBtfons  for  f)ou0ebolC>  Xfbrarice        37 

Thucydides  (6). — History  of  the  Peloponnesian  W«r. 
Translated,  with  Introduction  and  Notes,  by  Jowett. 

2  vols.,  8' $12  00 

By  all  critics  in  all  ages  this  has  been  considered  one  of  the  most  re- 
markable pieces  of  historical  composition  ever  produced. 

Xenophon  (r).— Whole  Works.  Translated  by  H.  G. 
Dakyns.  Anabasis  —  Hellenica  —  Cyropaedia — Memora- 
bilia— Symposium — Politics,  etc. 

4  vols.,  12° mi  $8  75 

"  More  remarkable  for  literary  qualities  than  for  great  historical  merits. 
Not  for  a  moment  to  be  compared  with  Thucydides." — A. 

Pausanias  (<r). — Description  of  Greece.     Translated,  with 

commentary,  by  J.  G.  Frazer. 

6  vols,  8° nei  $30  00 

[Translated  by  Shilleto.     2  vols.,  12'         .         ,  ne/    3  00] 

A  monumental  edition,  a  large  proportion  of  the  bulk  of  which  consists 
of  the  elaborate  commentary. 

"A  mine  of  information  on  the  art,  history,  and  life  of  ancient  Greece." 
— S. 

Abbott,  Evelyn  (6). — History  of  Greece  from  Earliest 
Times  to  the  Thirty  Years'  Peace,  445  B.C. 

3  vols.  ,8° |6  75 

A  careful  and  thorough  work,  occupying  the  place  between  the  ordi- 
nary brief  histories  and  the  more  elaborate  works. 

Cox,  Sir  G.  W.  (a).— General  History  of  Greece.     (To 

the  death  of  Alexander.) 
I  vol.,  8° $3  00 

"  Attaches  much  importance  to   mythology  as  a  key  to  the  character- 
istics of  early  civilization."— S. 

Curtius,  Ernst  (d). — History  of  Greece.  Translated  by 
A.  W.  Ward.     (To  B.C.  337.) 

5  vols.,  8°    .......         .       $10  00 

"  Scholarly  and  for  scholars.     Monarchical  in  sympathy." — S. 

Grote,  Georg^e  (a). — History  of  Greece.  (To  Alexander 
the  Great.) 

10  vols.,  12° $17  50 

"  Possesses  nearly   every  quality^  of  an  historical  work  of  the  very 
highest  order  of  ment.    Democratic  in  sympathy." — A. 


38        Suggestions  for  Ijouseboio  Xlbraries 

Schomann,    G.    F.   (c). — Antiquities   of  Greece;  —  the 

State.     Translated  by  E.  G.  Hardy  and  J.  S.  Mann. 

I  vol.,  8" $7  oo 

"  An  account  of  the  political  assemblies,  and  of  their  significance  in 
the  life  of  the  State." — A 

(c). — Athenian  Constitutional  History.    Translated 

by  B.  Bosanquet. 

I  vol.,  12° nei  $1  50 

"Discusses  the  reforms  of  Solon,  Cleisthenes,  and  Pericles." — A. 

Freeman,  E.  A.  (c). — History  of  Federal  Government, 

from  the  Foundation  of  the  Achaian  League  to  the 

Dissolution  of  the  United  States.     Vol.   I.     Greek 

Federations. 

8° $6  00 

A  valuable  work  never  completed.  The  first  volume  was  published  in 
1863.  Possibly  the  learned  author  lost  interest  in  the  subject  when  a  little 
later  it  became  evident  that  the  United  States  were  not  "  dissolving." 

Felton,  Prof.  C.  C.  (^). — Greece,  Ancient  and  Modern. 
I  vol.,  8° $5  00 

Popular  lectures  on  Greek  history,  life,  language,  and  literature. 
Exceedingly  interesting. 

Finlay,  Dr.  George  (c). — History  of  Greece  from  the 
Conquest  by  the  Romans  to  Present  Time.  (b.c. 
146-A.D.  1848.) 

7  vols.,  8° «<r/fi7  50 

"  Learned,  accurate,  and  severely  critical." — S. 

Schuchart,  Dr.  C.  ((J).— Schliemann's  Excavations:  An 

Archseological  and  Historical  Study. 

I  vol.,  8° «^^$4  00 

An  admirable  summary  and  orderly  arrangement  of  Schliemann's 
epoch-making  discoveries. 

Gardner,  Prof.  Percy  (d). — New  Chapters  in  Greek  His- 
tory. An  account  of  the  historical  results  of  recent  ex- 
cavations in  Greece  and  Asia  Minor. 

I  vol.,  8° $5  00 

"What  he  purposes  to  describe  is,  in  a  word,  the  contributions  of  the 
ipade  to  history.     Not  a  technical  but  a  popular  exposition." 


Sudgedtfons  tor  t)ou0ebolCi  Xibraries        39 

Becker,  W.  A.  (d). — Charicles :  Illustrations  of  the  private 
life  of  the  ancient  Greeks. 

I  vol.,  12° $1  25 

Greek  life  described  through  a  novel. 

De  Coulanges,   F.  (a). — The  Ancient  City:    Religion, 

laws,  and  institutions  of  Greece  and  Rome. 

I  vol.,  8° $2  50 

"  The  primitive  institutions  of  Greece  and  Rome  as  a  contribution  to 
the  science  of  comparative  social  ethics  ;  broad  and  scholarly." — S. 

Guhl  and  Koner  {a). — The  Life  of  the  Greeks  and  Ro- 
mans from  Antique  Monuments. 

I  vol.,  8°     .  .  .  .         .  .  .         $3  00 

"Nowhere  else  can  the  student  find  so  many  facts  in  illustration  of 
Greek  and  Roman  methods  and  manners." — .A 

Gladstone,  W.  E.  (3). — Juventus  Mundi :  Life  in  the  Ho- 
meric age. 

1  vol.,  12° $2  50 

Lloyd,  W.  W.  (^).— The  Age  of  Pericles:  Politics  and 
Arts  of  Greece. 

2  vols.,  8° $6  00 

Democracy,  poetry,  painting,  and  music.     Scholariy  and  sound. 

Mahafiy,  J.  P.  (a). — Social  Life  in  Greece.     (Homer  to 

Menander.) 

I  vol.,  12° $3  00 

"  Describes  the  everyday  life  vf  the  Greeks  in  their  homes,  temples, 
assemblies,  journeys." — S. 

(a). — Greek  Life  and  Thought.     (Alexander  to  Ro- 
man Conquest.) 

I  vol.,  12" $3  50 

Sequel  to  above. 

(i). — The    Greek    World    under    Roman    Sway. 

(Polybius  to  Plutarch.) 
I  vol.,  12° #3  00 

Sequel  to  above. 


40        Suggestions  tor  t)ou0ebolO  Xibrariee 

Freeman,  E.  A.  {c). — Studies  of  Travel  in  Greece. 

I  vol.,  i6° 75  cts. 

Mainly  devoted  to  archaeological  studies.      Of  special  value  to  the 
cultivated  traveller. 

Sergeant,  Lewis  (c). — New  Greece. 

I  vol.,  8" $3  50 

Perhaps  the  most  satisfactory  work  on  modern  Greece. 

Wordsworth,  Bishop    C.  (i).  —  Greece  ;   Pictoral,  De- 
scriptive, and  Historical. 

I  vol.,  royal  8°     .         .         .         .         .         .         .       $12  00 

Elaborately  illustrated.      A  book  of  great  interest  and  first-rate  au- 
thority. 


II.  Rome  and  Italy. 


Ammianus    Marcellinus    (b). — Roman   History.     Trans- 
lated by  C.    D.   Yonge.     (Covers  the  period  A.D.   353- 
378.) 
I  vol.,  12°  .....  .  .  $3  00 

"  Gibbon  attaches  much  importance  to  this  authority,  whom  all  critics 
regard  as  accurate,  trustworthy,  and  impartial.  Nearly  half  the  original 
work,  covering  the  period,  96-353,  is  lost." — S. 

Livy  (a). — Roman    History.     Translated    by  Spellan    and 

Edmonds.     (To  a.d.  39CJ.) 

4  vols.,  12° «^/ $6  00 

"  Almost  faultless  in  style,  but  a  '  popular '  history  written  to  gratify  the 
national  vanity  of  the  Romans.  Of  the  142  books  written  by  Livy  only  35 
have  been  preserved," — S. 

Tacitus  (a). — History.    Translated  by  Church  and  Brodribb. 

I  vol.,  12° net  %2  OQ 

Originally  from  a.d.  68  to  a.d.  96,  but  only  first  four  books  (covering 
one  year)  have  been  preserved. 

(c). — Annals.    Translated  by  Church  and  Broadribb. 

I  vol.,  12° net%2  CO 

From  death  of  Augustus,  a.d.  14,  to  death  of  Nero,  a.d.  68.  But 
portions  are  lost. 


Suggestions  for  fJOuecbolD  Xibrarles        41 

Tacitus    (<■). — Agricola   and    Germany.      Translated   by 

Church  and  Brodribb. 

I  vol.,  12°   ........  n£t%2  00 

"  The  Agricola  is  a  valuable  piece  of  biographv.  The  Germauy  is  im- 
portant for  the  political  and  social  institutions  and  religions  of  the  various 
German  tribes.   — S. 

Pelham,  Prof.  H.  F.  {a). — Outlines  of  Roman  History. 

I  vol.,  12° $1  75 

"  From  earliest  beginnings  to  fall  of  Western  Empire  in  476.  Intended 
for  the  cultured  reader.  Strong  on  the  constitutional  side.  Impartial." 
— S. 

Merivale,  Dr.   C.  (a). — General   History  of  Rome  [b.c. 
753-A.D.  476]. 

I  vol.,  12° $3  00 

"  Sketchy  but  interesting." — S. 

Liddell,  H.  G.  (<J).— Students'   History  of  Rome.      To 
the  establishment  of  the  empire. 

I  vol.,  12° net%i  50 

"Dry,  but  accurate." — S. 

Bury,  Prof.  J.  B.  (<:). — Students'  History  of  the  Roman 
Empire. 

1  vol.,  12° nei%i   50 

A  continuation  of  Liddell,  carrying  the  history  down  to  where  Gibbon 
begins. 

Duruy,  Victor  (c). — History  of  Rome  and  the   Roman 
People.     Edited  by  J.  P.  Mahaffy. 
6  vols.,  royal  8°  .         .         .         .         .         .         .       $48  00 

An  elaborate  popular  work,  with  2500  illustrations.  The  best  of  its 
kind,  and  of  considerable  literary  merit. 

Mommsen,  Theodor  {b). — History  of  Rome  to  the  Time 

of  Augfustus  [b.c.  46].     Translated  by  W.  P.  Dickson. 

4  vols.,  8° $8  00 

The  Roman  Provinces  [Caesar  to  Diocletian]. 

2  vols.,  8° $6  00 

"  Mainly  a  constittitional  history  ;  prepared  for  general  readers  rather 
than  scholars."— S. 


42        Suggestions  for  "fcouseboIO  Xibrarfes 

Michelet,  J.  (<•).— History  of  the  Roman  Republic.  Trans- 
lated by  William  Hazlitt. 
I  vol.,  12° nfl$i  oo 

"  Its  most  striking  characteristics  are  its  brilliancy  and  its  ingenuity." 
— A. 

Merivale,  Dean  C.  (c). — History  of  the  Romans  under 
the  Empire  [b.c.  6o-a.d.  i8o]. 
8  vols.,  12°  [4  vols.,  12°,  $7.00]  ....       $16  CXJ 
"  Exactly  fills  the  gap  between  Mommsen  and  Gibbon." — S. 

Gibbon,  Edward  {a). — History  of  the  Decline  and  Fall 
of  the  Roman  Empire.     Edited  by  Milman  and  Smith. 
8  vols.,  8°  [6  vols. ,  8°,  $12.00]     ....       I22  50 
"  Probably  the  greatest  historical  work  ever  written." — A. 

Ihne,  W.  (a). — Early  Rome.     From  the  Foundation  of  the 
City  to  its  Destruction  by  the  Gauls. 
I  vol.,  16°   ........         $1  00 

By  one  of  the  most  eminent  German  historians. 

Capes,  W.  W.  (6). — The  Early  Empire.     From  the  As- 
sassination of  Julius  Caesar  to  that  of  Domitian. 

I  vol.,  16° $1  00 

"Acumen  and  judicial  impartiality." — A. 

(i). — The  Roman  Empire  of  the  Second  Century ; 

or.  The  Age  of  the  Antonines. 

1  vol.,  16° $1  00 

"  This  volume  has  the  same  admirable  characteristics  as  its  prede- 
cessor."— A. 

Bury,  J.  B.  (c). — A  History  of  the  Later  Roman  Empire 
from  Arcadius  to  Irene  [a.d.  395-800]. 

2  vols.,  8° $6  00 

Seeley,  Prof.  J.  R.  (a). — Roman  Imperialism. 

I  vol.,  16°   ........         $1   50 

Three  lectures  on  the  establishment  and  decline  of  the  empire. 

Ramsay,  Prof.  W.  M.  (3). — The  Church  in  the  Roman 
Empire  [a.d.  64-170]. 
I  vol.,  8° $3  00 

"  An  admirable  example  of  the  true  method  of  research." 


SixQQCsUone  for  Ijousebolj)  Xlbcarfes        43 

Becker,  W.  A.  {i>). — Gallus ;  Roman  Scenes  in  the  Time 
of  Augustus. 

I  vol.,  12° |i  25 

A  companion  to  Becker's  Chtiricles. 

Inge,  W.  R.  (a). — Society  in  Rome  under  the  Caesars. 

I  vol.,  12°  ........         $1  50 

"  A  good  popular  account  of  the  grades  of  society,  education,  marriage, 
amusements,  etc." — S. 

Boissier,  Gaston  {a). — Rome  and  Pompeii.     Archaeologi- 
cal Rambles. 
I  vol.,  12° $2  50 

(a). — The  Country  of  Horace  and  Virgil. 

I   vol.,   12° $2   00 

(a). — Cicero  and  His  Friends.     A  Study  of  Roman 

Society  in  the  Time  of  Caesar. 

I  vol.,  12"  .         . $1  75 

"M.  Boissier's  brilliant  works." 

Burn,  R.  (<-). — Rome  and  the  Campagna. 

I  vol.,  4° net%\i  50 

Historical  description  of  ancient  Rome. 

"  Especially  designed  to  connect  the  early  traditions  with  individual 
localities." — A. 

Dennie,  John  (b). — Rome  of  To-Day  and   Yesterday : 

The  Pagan  City. 

I  vol.,  8° $3  50 

"  No  better  popular    introduction    to    Roman    antiquities   could    be 
named." — Nation. 

Dyer,  Dr.  T.  H.  {c). — The  City  of  Rome  :  Its  History  and 

Monuments. 

I  vol.,  12' net%\  50 

"  Except  in  his  treatment  of  the  earliest  history,  he  shows  sagacity, 
research,  and  good  judgment." — A. 

Lanciani,  Prof.  R.  {c). — Ancient  Rome  in  the  Light  of 
Recent  Discoveries. 

I  vol  .  8° $6  00 

The  author  was  director  of  excavations  under  the  Italian  Government. 


44        Suggedtions  for  'E)ou0ebol{)  Xibrartes 

Middleton,  Prof.  J.  H.  (<■). — The  Remains  of  Ancient 
Rome. 

2  vols.,  8°    .         .         .         .         .         ,         .         .        $7  oo 
A  learned  and  elaborate  guide  to  the  archxology  of  the  Eternal  City. 

Dyer,    Dr.  T.   H.  (d). — Pompeii :    Its  Buildings  and  An- 
tiquities. 

1  vol.,  12°  ,         .  $3  oo 

Dennis,   George  (c). — The  Cities   and    Cemeteries  of 
Etruria. 

2  vols.,  8° $12   OO 

"Valuable  information  on  Etruscan  archaeology." — A. 

Freeman,  E.  A.  (6). — Studies  of  Travel  in  Italy. 

I  vol.,  i6° 75  cts. 

Mainly  devoted  to  historical  and  archaological  studies.     Of  special 
value  to  the  cultivated  traveller. 

Hunt,  W.  (a).— History  of  Italy  [476-1870]. 

I  vol.,  16°  ........  $1  00 

"  As  a  bird's-eye  view  it  has  no  superior." — A. 

Hodgkin,   Dr.   Thomas  {c). — Italy   and    Her   Invaders 
[a.d.  376-553]. 

6  vols.,  8° ne/$22  00 

"  A  summing-up  for  English  readers  of  the  results  of  modern  research 

into  the  civil,  social,  and  political  characteristics  of  the  early  German  and 

Asiatic  invaders." — A. 

Browning,  Oscar  (i). — Guelfs  and  Ghibellines. 

1  vol.,  12° $2  00 

"  A  short  history  of  the  p-eat  struggle  of  Church  and  State,  Nationality 
and  Imperialism,  in  the  Middle  Ages  [1250-1409]." — S. 

Sismondi,  J.  C.  L.  de  (a). — History  of  the  Italian  Re- 
publics. 

I  vol.,  16° $1  25 

An  excellent  epitome. 

Machiavelli,  Niccolo  (c). — History  of  Florence  and  of 

Affairs  in  Italy  [446-1492]. 

I  vol.,  12° nef$i  00 

"  Spirited  and  picturesque,  but  not  entirely  accurate.     Goes  down  to 
date  01  Lorenzo  the  Magnificent."— S. 


Suggestions  tor  'fcousebold  Xtbcariee       45 

TroUope,  T.  A.  (c). — History  of  the  Commonwealth  of 
Florence  from  the  Earliest  Independence  of  the  Com- 
mune to  the  Fall  of  the  Republic  in  1531. 

4  vols.,  8° $15  00 

The  most  satisfactory  history  of  Florence  in  English. 

Bent,  J.  T.  (c). — Genoa:  How  the  Republic  Rose  and  Fell. 

1  vol.,  8° $7  00 

Colletta,  General  Pietro  (c).— History  of  the  Kingdom 
of  Naples  1734-1825,  with  a  Supplementary  Chapter, 
1825-1856. 

2  vols.,  8' $6  00 

"  A  brilliant  but  partisan  narrative." — A. 

Hazlitt,  W.  C.  ((5).— History  of  the  Venetian  Republic. 

Her  Rise,  her  Greatness,  and  her  Civilization,  337-1457. 

4  vols.,  8° $25  CO 

"  Founded  on  a  careful  study  of  authorities.     .     .     .    Clear  and  often 
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Brown,  H.  F.  (a). — Venice  :  An  Historical  Sketch. 

I  vol.,  8" $4  50 

"  Mr.  Brown's  History  0/  Venice  is  the  best  that  has  ever  come  into  our 
hands." — Nation. 

Burckhardt,  Jacob  (b). — Civilization  of  the  Period  of 
the  Renaissance  in  Italy. 
I  vol.,  8° $4  50 

"  Impartial  and  trustworthy." — S. 

Dennistoun,  James  {c). — Memoirs  of  the  Dukes  of  Urbino. 

Illustrating  th6  Anns,  Arts,  and  Literature  of  Italy  from 
1440  to  1650. 

3  vols.,  8° $22  50 

"  This  description  of  one  of  the  most  important  duchies  on  the  Adriatic 
is  a  valuable  picture  of  Italian  society  in  the  15th  and  16th  centuries." — A, 

Symonds,  J.  A.  (a). — The  Renaissance  in  Italy.     Age  of 

the  Despots  ;   Revival  of  Learning  ;   Fine  Arts ;  Italian 

Literature  ;  Catholic  Reaction. 

7  vols.,  8° $14  00 

"  A  very  important  work,  rather  after  the  method  of  Gibbon,  each 
chapter  being  a  monograph  rather  than  part  of  a  connected  whole." — S. 


46        Suggcsttons  Tor  *ft)ou9cbol0  Xtbraries 

Probyn,  J.  W.  (a).— Italy  from  the  Fall  of  Napoleon  to 
Death  of  Victor  Emanuel  [i8 15-1878]. 

I  vol.,  12° $2  50 

"A  lucid  account  of  the  rise  of  Italian  liberty." — S. 

Amicis,  Edmondo  de  (a). — Military  Life  in  Italy. 

I  vol.,  12° $2  00 

Brown,  H.  F.  (a). — Life  on  the  Lagoons. 

1  vol.,    12°    . $2    25 

Hare,  A.  J.  C.  (i). 

Cities  of  Northern  Italy.     2  vols.,  12°         ,        $350 
Cities  of  Central  Italy.     2  vols.,  12°    .        .  3  50 

Cities  of  Southern  Italy  and  Sicily,  i  vol.,  12°,  2  50 
Walks  in  Rome,     i  vol.,  12°        .        .        .  3  00 

Howells,  W.  D.  (^).— Venetian  Life. 

2  vols.,   16° $2   00 

Story,  W.  W.  (a).— Roba  di  Roma. 

2  vols.,   16° $2    50 

Taine,  H.  A.  (l>). — Italy:  Florence  and  ;  Venice  Rome  and 
Naples. 
2  vols.,  12° $5  00 

12.  Mediceval  and  Modern  Europe. 

Bryce,  James  (a). — The  Holy  Roman  Empire,    i  vol.,  8° 

(12°,  new  and  revised  edition,  «^/$i.5o) 

"  A  portrayal  of  that  singular  connection  of  Rome  and  Germany  during 
the  Middle  Ages,  which  received  the  name  of  '  Holy  Roman  Empire.'  but 
of  which  Voltaire  said  it  was  neither  holy,  nor  Roman,  nor  empire." — A. 

Church,    Dean    R.    W.    (a).— The   Beginnings   of  the 
Middle  Ages  [a.u.   500-1000]. 

I  vol.,  16° $1  00 

From  the  fall  of  Rome  to  the  breaking  up  of  the  Carlovingian  Empire 


Sudgestiond  (or  'boudcbolO  Xibrarics        47 

Froissart,  J.  (c). — Chronicles  of  England,  France,  and 
Spain  [i 326-1400].     Translated  by  T.  Johnes. 

2  vols.,  royal  8° $12  00 

"  A  very  graphic  and  faithful  picture  of  14th  century  events.     As  a 
view  of  the  most  favorable  side  of  chivalry  it  has  no  equal." — A. 

Hallam,  Henry  (6). — View  of  the  State  of  Europe  dur- 
ing the  Middle  Ages. 

3  vols.,  12°  (2  vols.,  12°,  $2.50)  .         .         .         .         $5  25 

Useful  as  a  whole,  especially  on  the  subject  of  chivalry.     Very  im- 
partial. 

Maitland,  Dr.  S.  R.  (3).— The  Dark  Ages.     Edited  by 
F.  Stokes. 

1  vol.,  8° $5  00 

Essays  on  the  religion  and  literature  of  9th  to  13th  centuries. 

May,  Sir  T.  Ersldne  (r). — Democracy  in  Europe.     A 
History. 

2  vols.,  12° $3  00 

Sketch  of  the  progress  of  democratic  ideas  and  methods  from  the  earli- 
est ages  down  to  the  present  time. 

Michaud,  J.  F.  (<r). — History  of  the  Crusades.     Trans- 
lated by  W.  Robson. 

3  vols.,  12° $4  50 

Best  comprehensive  work  on  the  subject. 

Monstrelet,   E.   de  (<■). — Chronicles.      Translated  by  T. 
Johnes.     (1400-1467 — continued  to  1516.) 
2  vols.,  royal  8°  ......         $g  00 

Practically  a  continuation  of  Froissart. 

Abdy,   Dr.  J.  T.  (6). — Feudalism:  Its  rise,  prepress,  and 
consequences. 

I  vol.,  12° $3  00 

Lectures  delivered  at  Gresham  College. 

Cutts,  Rev.  E.  L.  (d). — Scenes  and  Characters  of  the 
Middle  Ages. 

I  vol.,  8' $6  00 

The  monks,  the  pilgrims,  the  minstrels,  the  knights,  the  merchants. 


48        QuQQeetione  for  •fcouscbolJ)  Xlbrariee 

Hecker,  Dr.  J.  F.  (c). — Epidemics  of  the  Middle  Ages. 

Translated  by  Dr.  B.  C.  Babington. 

I  vol.,  12° $2  50 

Gives  an  account  of  the  "  Black  Death," — by  which  25,000,000  per- 
sons, or  about  one  quarter  of  the  population  of  Europe,  are  supposed  to 
have  died, — and  of  other  plagues. 

Lacroix,  Paul  (3). — Manners,  Customs  and  Dress  dur- 
ing the  Middle  Ages. 

I  vol.,  royal  8"    .......       $io  oo 

Military  and  Religious  Life  in  the  Middle  Ages. 

I  vol.,  royal  8° $io  oo 

Very  elaborately  illustrated. 

Lea,  H.  C.  (a). — History  of  the  Inquisition  of  the  Mid- 
dle Ages. 
3  vols.,  8° $9  oo 

"  A  remarkable  example  of  erudition  and  good  judgment,  and  by  far 
the  most  important  authority  on  the  subject." — A. 

(a). — Superstition  and  Force.    Essays  on  The  Wager 

of  Battle,  The  Wager  of  Law,  The  Ordeal,  Torture. 
I  vol.,  8° $2  50 

"  The  most  complete  and  best  account  of  the  '  methods  of  administer- 
ing injustice  '  in  the  Middle  Ages." — A. 

D'Aubign6  (J.  H.  Merle)  (f).— History  of  the  Great  Re- 
formation of  the  XVL  Century  in  Germany,  Switz* 
erland,  etc. 

5  vols.,    12° $10    00 

"  D'Aubign^'s  dislikeof  the  Catholic  Church  amounted  to  hatred  and 
abhorrence.  .  .  .  It  is  simply  one  side  of  a  great  question,  presented 
with  great  power  by  a  skilful  and  brilliant  advocate." — A. 

Spalding,  M.  J.  (f).— History  of  the  Protestant  Reforma- 
tion in  Germany  and  S^vitzerland  ;  and  in  England, 
Ireland,  Scotland,  Netherlands,  France,  and  North- 
ern Europe. 
I  vol.,  8° $5  00 

"  The  strongest  presentation  of  the  Catholic  side  of  the  Reform- 
»tion."— A. 


SuQQeetions  for  f30ugebolD  Xibraries        49 

Seebohm,  Frederick  (a). — The  Era  of  the  Protestant 
Revolution. 

I  vol.,  16° $1  00 

Good,  concise  account. 

Lea,  H.  C.  (/>).— Historical  Sketch  of  Sacerdotal  Celi- 
bacy in  the  Christian  Church. 

I  vol.,  8° $3  75 

"  Throws  a  great  deal  of  light  upon  the  moral  condition  of  the  Middle 

Ages.     Protestant  point  of  view,  but  not  controversial." — A. 

Milman,  Dean  H.  H.  {/>). — History  of  Latin  Christianity. 

8  vols.,  12"  [4  vols.,  12°,  $8.00]  .         .         .       $14  00 

Includes  the  Popes  to  Nicholas  V. 

"  Broad,  scholarly,  and  popular ;  an  admirable  history." — S. 

Ranke,  Leopold  von  (i^).— History  of  the  Popes,  their 
Church  and  State,  and  Especially  of  their  Conflicts 
with  Protestantism  in  the  i6th  and  17th  Centuries. 

3  vols.,  8°  [3  vols.,  12°,  «^/$3.oo]       .         .         .       $18  00 

"  The  distinguishing  characteristic  of  Ranke  is  the  deep  insight  with 
which  he  penetrates  to  the  very  bottom  of  affairs,  and  brings  the  causes 
and  springs  of  action  into  the  light." — A. 

Stubbs,  Bishop  W.  (a). — Lectures  on  the  Study  of 
Mediaeval  and  Modern  History. 

I  vol.,  8" w^/  $3  50 

"  Abounds  in  valuable  suggestions  for  the  student." — A. 

Freeman,  E.  A.  (a). — Historical  Geography  of  Europe. 

Text,    I   vol.     Atlas,   i   vol.     2  vols.,   8°  ;  o.  p.  and  very 

scarce net%ii  00 

"  The  great  value  of  the  work  is  not  so  much  in  the  number  of  inter- 
esting facts  brought  together,  as  in  the  great  skill  with  which  the  histori- 
cal importance  of  these  facts  is  made  to  appear." — A. 

Gerard,  J.  W.  (/J).— The  Peace  of  Utrecht.  An  Histori- 
cal Review  of  the  Great  Treaty  of  171 3-14. 

I  vol.,  8° $3  00 

"  Mr.  Gerard  has  opened  up  a  mine  of  historical  wealth." 

Lacroix,  Paul  (c). — The  Eighteenth  Century  ;  Institu- 
tions, Customs,  and  Costumes. 

I  vol.,  8'     .  \\ii  00 

Elaborately  illustrated. 
4 


so        SwQQcetlons  for  'f)oudebold  Xibrariea 

Fyffe,  C.  A.  {6). — History  of  Modern  Europe   [1792- 

1878]. 

3  vols.,  8°  $7  50 

"  Strongly  anti-Napoleonic,  but  regards  the  government  he  established 
as  far  better  than  the  one  he  supplanted." — A. 

Andrews,  Prof.  C.  M.  (a). — The  Historical  Development 
of  Modern  Europe.  From  the  Congress  of  Vienna  to 
the  Present  Time. 

2  vols.,  8° $5  00 

Accurate  scholarship,  and  popular  treatment. 

Maurice,  C.  E.  (a). — The  Revolutionary  Movement  of 
1848-49.     (Italy,  Austria,  Hungary,  and  Germany.) 
I  vol.,  8° $2  50 

Mackenzie,  Robert  (a). — The  Nineteenth  Century :   A 
History. 
I  vol.,  12° $1  00 

A  sketch,  or  a  series  of  sketches,  rather  than  a  history. 

Miiller,  Wilhelm  (a).  —  Political  History  of  Recent 
Times  [1816-75].  With  special  reference  to  Germany. 
Translated,  with  an  appendix  covering  1876-81,  by  John 
P.  Peters. 

I  vol.,  8° $3  00 

"  The  purpose  of  the  author  is  to  present  an  account  of  such  events  as 
have  exerted  an  exceptional  influence  in  shaping  modern  political  affairs." 
-A. 

ij.  France. 

Guizot's  History  of  France  (a).     Abridged  by  G.  Masson. 

I  vol.,  8° I3  00 

The  best  concise  work. 

Lacombe,  Paul  {a).  —  Short  History  of  the  French 
People.     Translated  from  the  French. 

I  vol.,  12° |i   25 

Patterned  after  (a  good  deal  after)  Green's  England,  but  very  much 

briefer,  and  more  elementary. 


Sudaeetfone  for  t>oudebold  Xibrariee        51 

Duruy,  Victor  (3).— History  of  France  to  1870.  Abridged 
and  translated  from  the  French  by  Mrs.  M.  Carey.  With 
Introduction  and  continuation  to  1896  by  Prof.  J.  F. 
Jameson. 

2  vols.,  12° $3  GO 

Entertaining;  and  instructive. 

Michelet,  Jules  (^). — History  of  France.  Translated. 
(To  1483.) 

2  vols.,  8° '  .         $4  00 

"  There  is,  perhaps,  no  more  brilliant  historical  writing  in  any  language 
than  some  of  the  writing  of  Michelet." — A. 

Kitchin,  G.  W.  (i) — History  of  France  [to  1793]. 

3  vols.,  12° «<•/ $7  80 

"  The  best  general  history  written  by  an  Englishman.     Scholarly,  but 
dry."- A. 

Guizot,  F.  p.  G.  (a)— History  of  France  from  the  Earli- 
est Times  to  1848.     Edited  by  Mme.  DeWitt. 
8  vols.,  royal  8°  [8  vols.,  12°,  $8.00]  .         .        $33  00 

The  best  extensive  popular  work.     Elaborately  illustrated.     Written 
originally  for  the  author's  grandchildren. 

Baird,  H.  M.  (a). — History  of  the  Rise  of  the  Hug^uenots 

of  France. 

2  vols.,  8° $5  00 

An  account  of  the  Protestant  movement  in  France  from  the  accession 
of  Francis  I.,  in  1515,  to  the  death  of  Charles  IX  ,  in  1574, 

Perkins,  J.  B.  {a), — France  under   Mazarin.      With  a 
Sketch  of  the  Administration  of  Richelieu. 
2  vols.  ,8° $4  00 

France  under  the  Regency.    With  a  Review  of  the 

Administration  of  Louis  XIV. 

1  vol.,  8° $2  00 

France  under  Louis  XV. 

2  vols.,  8° $4  00 

"  '  France  under  Richelieu  and  Mazarin  '  will  introduce  its  author  into 
the  rsuiks  of  the  first  living  historians  of  our  land." 


Si        &\XQQC6tion6  tot  fjousebold  Xibraried 

Elliot,  Frances  (a). — Old  Court  Life  in  France. 

2  vols.,  8° M^/$5  oo 

An  anecdotal  history  of  the  French  court  from  Francis  I.  to  Louis  XIV. 

Taine,  H.  A.  (a). — The  Ancient  Regime. 

1  vol.,  8°     .        ,         .        ,         .        .        .        ,        $2  50 

"  As  a  revelation  of  society  in  its  different  phases  during  the  hundred 
years  before  the  Revolution,  the  book  has  no  equal." — A. 

Jackson,  Lady  C.  C.  (3),— The  Old  R6gime. 

2  vols.,  8° $3  50 

Gives  a  vivid  picture  of  society  under  Louis  XV. 

(/5).— French  Court  and  Society  [1754-93]. 

2  vols.,  8° $3  50 

Reign  of  Louis  XVI.  and  the  First  Empire. 

Young,   Arthur  (3). — Travels    in    France    During    the 
Years  1787,  '88,  '89. 

2  vols.,    12° «^/ $2.00 

"A  book  cited  by  every  historian,  and  one  that,  as  far  as  possible, 
should  be  read  by  every  student  of  the  Revolutionary  period." — A. 

Carlyle,  Thomas  (a). — History   of   the    French    Revo- 
lution. 

3  vols.,  8°  [3  vols.,  12°,  $3.00]    .         .         .         .         $8  00 

"  This  is  truly  a  marvellous  book.     But  it  is  not  so  much  a  history  as  a 
succession  of  pictures." — A. 

Mahan,  Capt.  A.  T.  (a). — The  Influence  of  Sea  Power 
upon  the  French  Revolution  and  Empire  [1793-1812]. 

2  vols.,  8° $6  00 

Taine,  H.  A.  (a). — The  Revolution.     Translated  by  John 
Durand. 

3  vols.,  8° .         .         $7  50 

"  Its  chief  strength  is  in  its  portrayal  of  the  social  condition  of  the 
nation." — A. 

Thiers,  L.  A.  (iJ).— History  of  the  French  Revolution. 

5  vols.,  8°  [4  vols.,  8^  $8.00]       .         .         .         .       $15  00 

"  It  abounds  in  looseness  of  statement  and  extravagances  of  expression, 
which  make  it  at  once  popular  and  untrustworthy." — A. 


SvLQQeetione  tot  l^ousebolD  Xibraries        53 

Mig^et,  F.  A.  M.  (/>). — History  of  the  French  Revolu- 
tion, 1789-1814. 

I  vol.,  12" mt$i  00 

Probably  the  best  brief  work. 

Lamartine,  A.  de  (c). — History  of  the  Girondists. 

3  vols.,   12" ffits  00 

"A  glorification  of  the  revolutionary  spirit,  and  it  has  probably  had 

more  influence  than  any  other  literary  production  in  keeping  the  revolu- 
tionary  spirit  in  France  alive." — A. 

Rousseau,  J.  J.  (a). — The  Social  Contract. 

I  vol.,  16° $1  25 

Of  the  utmost  importance  for  a  study  of  the  revolutionary  period  in 
France — especially  for  the  Reign  of  Terror. 

Thiers,  L.  A.  (c). — History  of  the  Consulate  and  the 
Empire  of  France  under  Napoleon. 

12  vols.,  8' $36  00 

"The  standard  work  on  the  subject,  but  there  is  too  much  of  it,  and  it 
is  very  French,  glorifying  the  Napoleonic  age."— S. 

Taine,  H.  A.  (a). — The  Modem  R^g^ime :  Contemporary 
France. 
I  vol.,  8' $2  50 

"  Based  on  fullest  and  minutest  research  ;  contains  striking  and  bril- 
liant picture  of  Napoleon's  superhuman  power." — S. 

Lamartine,  A.  de  (c). — History  of  the  Restoration  of 
Monarchy  in  France  [1815-30]. 

4  vols.,  12'  .......  »/'/$4  00 

"  Brilliant,  interesting,  and  disappointing." — A. 

(a). — History  of  the  Revolution  of  1848. 

I  vol.,  12" M^/$i  00 

"The  author  was  himself  in  the  thick  of  the  struggle." — A. 

Hugo,  Victor  (a).— The  History  of  a  Crime. 

1  vol.,    12° $1    50 

Account  of  the  coup  d'  Hat  of  December,  1851,  by  an  eye-witness. 

Cook,  T.  A.  (a). — Old  Touraine :  Life  and  History  of  the 
Famous  Chateaux  of  France. 

2  vols.,  12' $5  00 

"  An  accurate  picture  of  the  old  life  in  the  famous  chateaux  along  the 
Valley  of  the  Loire." — S. 


54        SnQQCStlonB  foe  1)OU0ebold  %ibtavicB 
14..   Germany. 

Lew^is,  C.  T.  (a). — A  History  of  Germany  from  the 
Earliest  Times.  Founded  on  Dr.  David  Mttller's 
"  History  of  the  German  People." 

I  vol.,  12° $2  50 

The  best  brief  history. 

Menzel,  Wolfgang  {b). — The  History  of  Germany  from 
the  Earliest  Period  to  the  Present  Time  [1848]. 
Translated  Viy  Mrs.  George  Horrocks. 

3  vols.,  12°  .......  net%'i  00 

"  Epigrammatic  and  eminently  readable." — A. 

Tuttle,  Herbert  {b). — History  of  Prussia. 

1.  To  the  Accession  of  Frederick  the  Great  [1134- 
■■    1740]. 

2.  Under  Frederick  the  Great  [1740-56].     2  vols. 

3.  Under  Frederick  the  Great  [1756-57]. 

4  vols.,  12°  .  .        .        .        .        $9  00 

The  author  died  before  the  completion  of  his  work. 

Whitman,  Sidney  (a). — Imperial  Germany. 

I  vol.,  12° $3  00 

"  Politics,  life,  education,  aristocracy,  women,  etc." — S. 

De  Stael,  Mme.  (a). — Germany.  Translated,  with  notes, 
by  O.  W.  Wight. 

1  vol.,  12° $3  00 

"Perhaps  the  greatest  work  of  one  of  the  greatest  literary  geniuses  of 
her  age.  In  it  tne  author  endeavored  to  portray  the  character  of  the 
Germans,  and  to  account  for  the  peculiarities  of  their  social  and  political 
Ufe."— A. 

Heine,  Heinrich  (b). — Germany.  Translated  by  C.  G. 
Leland. 

2  vols.,  12° $4  00 

Intended  to  supplement  Mme.  de  Stael's  "  Germany." 
"  Full  of  wit  and  humor."— S. 

Gould,  Rev.  S.  Baring- (a). — Germany,  Past  and  Present. 

I  vol.,  8° $3  00 

Contains  a  good  view  of  the  social  institutions  and  customs  of  Germany. 


Suggedtions  for  t>ou0ebold  Xibraries        55 

Vizitelly,  Henry  (r).— Berlin  under  the  New  Empire. 

2  vols.,  8° $12  00 

Institutions,  industries,  social  life,  etc. 

Malleson,  Col.  G.  B.  (*).— The  Refounding  of  the  Ger- 
man Empire. 

1  vol.,  12' $1  75 

A  concise  account  of  the  events  between  1848  and  1870. 

Sybel,  Dr.  Heinrich  von  {i>). — The  Founding  of  the 
German  Empire. 

7  vols.,  8'    .......         .       $14  00 

Based  chiefly  on  Prussian  state  documents. 

Ranke,  Leopold  von  (r). — Memoirs  of  the  House  of 
Brandenburg  and  History  of  Prussia  during  the 
XVIIth  and  XVIIIth  Centuries. 

2  vols.,  8°  {out  0/ print) ^25  CO 

"  The  most  valuable  account  accessible  in  English  of  the  history  of 
Brandenburg  and  Prussia  before  the  outbreak  of  the  Seven  Years'  War." 
—A. 

Gindely,  Anton  (a). — History  of  the  Thirty  Years'  War. 
Translated  by  Prof.  A.  Ten  Brook. 

2  vols.,  12° $3  50 

"  By  far  the  best  account  we  have." — A. 

Hozier,  Col.  H.  M.  (<i).— The  Seven  Weeks'  War 
[1866]  :  Its  Antecedents  and  its  Incidents. 

I  vol.,  12° $2  50 

"  A  graphic  picture  of  a  short  but  momentous  war." — A. 

Moltke,    Marshal    Helmuth    von    (6).  —  The    Franco- 
German  War.     Translated  by  Mrs.  Clara  Bell. 
I  vol.,  8° $3  00 

ij.  Austria. 

Coxe,  Archdeacon  W.  {a). — History  of  the  House  of 
Austria,  1218-1792.     With  continuation  to  the  Revolu- 
tion of  1848  by  W.  K.  Kelly. 
4  vols.,  12° »<r/$6  CO 

"  The  only  complete  history  of  the  House  of  Austria  accessible  to  the 
reader  of  English.  —A. 


56        Suggestions  for  "fcouscbolO  Xlbraries 

Vehse,  Dr.  E.  (c). — Memoirs  of  the  Court,  Aristocracy, 
and  Diplomacy  of  Austria.  Translated  from  the 
German  by  Franz  Demmler. 

2  vols.,  8" $7  50 

"A  picture  of  society  and  of  public  characters." — A. 

De  Worms,  Baron  Henry  (c). — The  Austro-Hungarian 
Empire.  A  political  sketch  of  men  and  events  since 
1866. 

I  vol.,  8°     . $5  c)0 

"  Historical  and  descriptive." — A. 

id.  Holland. 

Blok,  Prof.  P.  J.  (a).— History  of  the  People  of  the 
Netherlands.  Translated  by  Oscar  A.  Bierstadt  and 
Ruth  Putnam. 

3  vols.,  8'' $7  50 

To  be  completed  in  four  parts,  of  which  three  have  been  published. 
Of  undoubted  authority. 

Davies,  C.  M.  {c). — History  of  Holland  and  the  Dutch 

[900-1799]. 
3  vols.,  8' $15  GO 

"  The  most  useful  part  of  Davies's  book  is  that  which  treats  of  Holland 
from  the  wars  of  Louis  XIV.  to  the  French  Revolution." — A. 

Young,  A.  (b). — History  of  the  Netherlands. 

I  vol.,  12" $1  50 

Chiefly  XVIth-XVIIth  centuries.     Popular. 

Motley,  J.  L.  {a). — The  Rise  of  the  Dutch  Republic. 

3  vols.,  8°   .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .         $6  00 

"  A  vivid  portrayal  of  one  of  the  most  dramatic  portions  of  modem 
European  history." — A. 

(a). — History  of  the  United   Netherlands,  from 

the  Death  of  William  the  Silent  to  the  Twelve 
Years'  Truce,  1609. 

4  vols.,  8° $8  00 

"  Far  more  controversial,  and  therefore  less  final  than  his  other  work." 
-S. 


Su0gedtion0  for  f)oudebold  Xibrartes        57 

Grattan,  T.  C.  (a).— The  History  of  the  Netherlands. 

I  vol.,    12" $2    00 

"  As  a  bird's-«ye  view  it  is  excellent." — A. 

Amicis,  Edmondo  de  (a). — Holland  and  its  People. 
I  vol.,  12° $2  25 

"  A  very  bright  book,  better  calculated  than  any  other  to  give  the 
reader  a  vivid  and  true  impression  of  the  country  and  people." — A. 


//.  Spain  and  Portugal. 

Dunham,  Dr.   S.  A.  {a). — The   History  of  Spain  and 

Portugal  [to  1768], 

5  vols.,  16° $10  00 

"Conscientious  and  thorough.     Not  only  the  best  general  history  of 
Spain  in  English,  but  one  of  the  best  in  any  language." — A. 

Cond^,  J.  A.  (b). — History  of  the  Dominion  of  the  Arabs 
in  Spain  [711-1492].     Translated  from  the  Spanish  by 
Mrs.  J.  Foster. 
3  vols.,  12'  .......  net%2  00 

"  A  record  of  interminable  petty  wars,  and  of  little  else." — A. 

Copp6e,  Henry  ((^).— History  of  the  Conquest  of  Spain 
by  the  Arab  Moors.     With  a  sketch  of  the  civilization 
which  they  achieved  and  imparted  to  Europe. 
2  vols.,  12"  .......         $5  00 

"The  most  attractive  account  of  the  Moorish  conquest  of  Spain." — A. 

Prescott,  W.  H.  (a).— History  of  the  Reign  of  Ferdi- 
nand and  Isabella  [1479-1516]. 
2  vols,  8^  [3  vols.,  12°,  $1.50]     .         .         .         .         $500 

"Conspicuous  for  thoroughness  of  research,  keenness  of  insight,  im- 
partiality of  judgment,  and  correctness  and  elegance  of  style." — A. 

Irving,  Washington  {a). — Chronicles  of  the  Conquest  of 
Granada. 
2  vols.,  16°  [i  vol.,  16',  75  cts.] .        ■.         .  $2  50 

A  eraphic  account  of  the  great  struggle  which  led  to  the  downfall  of 

the  Moors. 

"  The  almost  matchless  beauty  of  iu  style."— A. 


58        Suggesttons  tor  DousebolJ)  Xlbrarfee 

Prescott,  W.  H.  (a). — History  of  the  Reign  of  Philip 
the  Second,  King  of  Spain  [to  1580]. 
2  vols.,  8°  (2  vols  ,  12°,  $3.00)     .  .         .         .         $5  00 

A  monument  of  thorough  study  and  research.     Left  incomplete  by  the 
death  of  the  author. 

Napier,  Sir  W.  F.  P.  (r).— History  of  the  War  in  the 
Peninsula  and  the  South  of  France  [1808-14J. 

6  vols.,  12° I15  00 

"A  model  of  force,  elegance,  and  accuracy." — S. 

Amicis,  Edmondo  de  (a). — Spain  and  the  Spaniards. 

I  vol.,  12" $2  25 

"  A  magician  in  words." 

Crawfurd,  Oswald  (a). — Portugal,  Old  and  New. 

I  vol.,  8° $3  00 

The  author  was  for  many  years  English  Consul  at  Oporto. 

iS.  Switzerland. 

Adams  and  Cunningham  {a). — The  Swiss  Confedera- 
tion. 
I  vol.,  8° $3  75 

McCrackan,  W.  D.  (^).— The  Rise  of  the  Swiss  Re- 
public. 

I  vol.,  8°     .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .         $3  00 

Mackenzie,  Miss  H.  (b). — The  History  of  Switzerland. 

I  vol.,    12° $1    50 

Zschokke,   H.  (a). — History  of  Switzerland,  with  con- 
tinuation to  1848  by  E.  Zschokke. 

1  vol.,  12° $1  50 

jg.  Norway,  Denmark,  Sweden,  and  Iceland. 

Du  Chaillu,  P.  B.  (.?).— The  Viking  Age. 

2  vols.,  8° $7  50 

History,  manners,  customs,  etc.     1400  illustrations. 


Suggeetione  tor  1}ousebolD  Xibrarics        59 

Keary,  C.  F.  (a). — The  Vikings  of  Western  Christen- 
dom [789-888]. 

I  vol.,  12" $2  50 

Historical  work  of  high  value. 

Wheaton,  H.  (/>). — History  of  the  Northmen,  or  Danes 
and  Normans  [to  1066]. 
I  vol.,  12° $3  50 

A  scholarly  work  of  high  order. 

Dunham,  Dr.  S.  A.  (a). — History  of  Denmark,  Sweden, 
and  Norway. 

3  vols.,  12" $6  00 

"  As  a  brief  history  these  volumes  still  have  no  superior." — A. 

Ott<,  Miss  E.  C.  (6). — Scandinavian  History. 

I  vol.,  12'' $2  50 

Binding,   Prof.   Paul   C.    (a). — History   of  Scandinavia 
from  Early  Times  to  the  Present  Day. 
I  vol.,  12° $2  50 

Gould,  Rev.  S.  Baring-  (<r). — Iceland :  Its  Scenes  and 
Sagas. 

I  vol.,  royal  8° $i8  CO 

Elaborately  illustrated. 

Maccoll,  Letitia  {6). — The  Story  of  Iceland. 

I  vol.,  i6° $1  50 

Conybeare,  C.  A.  V.  (d). — Iceland  :  Its  Place  in  History 
of  European  Institutions. 
I  vol.,  12° $2  00 

20.  Russia. 

Rambaud,  Alfred  (a).— The  History  of  Russia  from  the 
Earliest  Times  to  1877.     Translated  by  N.  H.  Dole. 

3  vols.,  8' $6  CO 

The  best  history  in  English. 


6o        Suggestions  for  "fcougebolD  Xlbtaries 

Leroy-Beaulieu,  Anatole  (a). — The  Empire  of  the  Tsars 
and  the  Russians.  Translated  by  Z.  A.  Ragozin,  with 
annotations.  The  Country  and  its  Inhabitants — The  In- 
stitutions— The  Religion. 

3  vols.,  8° $9  oo 

Contains  the  best  informed,  most  wisely  sympathetic,  and  soundest 
critical  judgments  of  Russia  and  her  people.  Unquestionably  the  fairest 
descriptive  work  on  Russia. 

Wall&ce,  D.  M.  (a).— Russia. 

1  vol.,  8" $5  oo 

Admirable  brief  description  of  Russian  people  and  affairs. 

21.  China  and  Japan. 

Boulger,  D.  C.  (<r). — A  History  of  China.  Revised  edi- 
tion. 

2  vols.,  8° $io  oo 

Williams,  S.  W.  (a). — The  Middle  Kingdom.    A  Survey 
of  the  Country,  its  People,  History,  etc. 
2  vols.,  8' $9  oo 

Adams,  F.  O.  (<r). — History  of  Japan,  from  the  Earliest 
Period. 
2  vols.,  8° $17  50 

Rein,  J.  J.  (b). — Japan  :  Travels  and  Researches.  Also 
The  Industries  of  Japan,  with  account  of  its  Arts, 
Commerce,  Forestry,  and  Agriculture. 

2  vols.,  royal  8° $17  50 

"  The  best  general  handbooks  of  Japan." — Nation. 

Norman,  H.  (3). — Real  Japan. 

I  vol.,   12° $1    50 

22.   Great  Britain. 

Green,  J.  R.  (a). — A  Short  History  of  the  English 
People  [607-1873]. 

4  vols.,  royal  8°,  elaborately  illustrated         .         .       $20  00 

[i  vol.,  8°,  M<f/$r.30.] 

"A  book  of  extraordinary  merits.  For  the  purposes  of  the  general 
reader  it  is  superior  to  all  other  works  of  moderate  compass," — A. 


SnQQeetiowB  tor  f)oudebolO  Xibrariee        6i 

Gardiner,  S.  R.  (a). — A  Student's  History  of  England 
[B.C.  55-A.D.  1885]. 

3  vols.,  12° $4  50 

"  Clear,  yet  concise,  accurate,  yet  bright." — S. 

Social  England  (a). — A  History  of  Social  Life  in  England. 
A  Record  of  the  Progress  of  the  People  in  Religion, 
Laws,  Learning,  Arts,  Science,  Literature,  Industry, 
Commerce,  and  Manners.  From  the  Earliest  Times  to 
the  Present  Day.  By  various  writers.  Edited  by  H.  D. 
Traill. 

L       To  the  Accession  of  Edward  I. 
U.     To  the  Death  of  Henry  VI L 

III.  To  the  Death  of  Elizabeth. 

IV.  To  the  Death  of  Anne. 

V.  To  the  Battle  of  Waterloo. 

VI.  To  the  General  Election  of  1885, 

6  vols.,  8° $21  CO 

Written  by  specialists,  and  occupying  an  important  place  in  the  field 
of  historical  literature.  Characterized  by  broad  scholarsnip  and  editorial 
discrimination,  and  forming  a  well  rounded,  continuous  narrative. 

Hume,  David  (d). — The  History  of  England  from  the 
Invasion  of  Julius  Caesar  to  the  Revolution  of  1688. 

6  vols.,  8°  [6  vols.,  12°,  $3.00]    ....       $12  00 

"  In  point  of  clearness,  elegance,  and  simplicity  of  style  it  has  never 
been  surpassed.     Not  considered  authoritative  by  modem  scholars." — A. 
Of  strong  Tory  bias. 

Lingard,  John  (<). — A  History  of  England  from  the  First 

Invasion  of  the  Romans  to  the  Accession  of  William 

and  Mary  in  1688. 

10  vols.,  S" .       $25  00 

"  The  great  Roman  Catholic  authority.  More  or  less  biassed,  but  able 
and  scholarly." — A. 

Knight,  Charles  (c). — The  Popular  History  of  England. 

An  Illustrated  History  of  Society  and  Government,  from 
the  Earliest  Period  to  our  own  Times.  Many  excellent 
illustrations. 

9  vols.  ,8° $22  50 

"  Not  profound,  but  very  readable,  and  thoroughly  healthful  in  ton*." 


62        SuQQcetions  tot  fjousebolo  Xtbrartea 

Low  and  Pulling  (^).— The  Dictionary  of  English  His- 
tory. 
I  vol.,  8° .        $6  CO 

"A  very  useful  book."— S. 

Hosmer,  James  K.  {a). — Short  History  of  Anglo-Saxon 
Freedom. 

1  vol.,  12° $2    OO 

A  sketch  of  constitutional  history  covering  nearly  2000  years. 

Gneist,  Prof.  Rudolph  (^).— The  History  of  the  English 
Constitution.     Translated  by  Philip  F.  Ashworth. 

2  vols.,  8° $8  00 

A  learned  work  of  highest  authority.     Covers  the  whole  period  em- 
braced by  Stubbs,  Hallam,  and  May. 

(i). — The  Student's  History  of  the  English  Par- 
liament. Being  a  popular  account  of  the  growth  and 
development  of  the  English  Constitution  from  800  to 
1887.     Translated  by  Prof.  A.  H.  Keane. 

1  vol.,  8°     .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .         $3  00 

"Admirably  done." 

Stubbs,  Bishop  W.  {l>). — The  Constitutional  History  of 
England  :  Origin  and  Development  [to  1485]. 

3  vols.,  12° «^/$7  80 

"  The  greatest  monument  yet  reared  by  English  historical  scholar- 
ship."—Freeman. 

Hallam,  Henry  (c). — The  Constitutional  History  of  Eng- 
land [X485-1760]. 
3  vols.,  12°  [2  vols.,  12°,  $3.00]  .         .         .         .        $5  25 
"  Learned  and  impartial,  but  in  awkward  and  laborious  style." — S. 

May,  Sir  T.  Erskine  (c). — The  Constitutional  History 
of  England  [1760- 1870]. 

2  vols.,  12° $3  50 

"  More  spirited  and  readable  than  Hallam.     An  invaluable  political 
text-book."— A. 

Allen,  Grant  (a). — Anglo-Saxon  Britain. 

I  vol.,  16° $1  25 


Suddeetione  tor  1)ou6cbold  Xibtraried       63 

Green,  J.  R.  (<■). 

The  Making  of  England. 
The  Conquest  of  England. 

2  vols.  ,8° $5  00 

"  The  most  satisfactory  description  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  conquest  and 
settlement." — A. 

Lappenberg,  J.  M.  (c). — A  History  of  England  under  the 
Anglo-Saxon  Kings.  Translated  from  the  German  by 
Benj.  Thorpe. 

2  vols.,  12° $3  00 

"A  history  of  events  rather  than  a  description  of  the  time." — A. 

Palgrave,  Sir  Francis  {c).—The  Rise  and  Progress  of 
the  English  Commonwealth  :  Anglo-Saxon  Period. 

Containing  the  Anglo-Saxon  Policy,  and  the  Institutions 

arising  out  of  Laws  and  Usages  which  prevailed  before 

the  Conquest. 

2  \oh.,  4°,  1S21  {out  0/ print)     ....       $25  00 

"  Surpasses  every  modem  work  in  ingenious  and  profound  antiquarian 
erudition  relative  to  English  legal  antiquities." — Chancellor  Kent. 

Rhys,  J.  (a). — Celtic  Britain  [nth  century]. 

1  vol.,  16'' $1  25 

Freeman,  E.  A.  (i). 

The  History  of  the  Norman  Conquest  of  England. 

Its  Causes  and  its  Results. 
7  vols.,  8°;  o.  p.  and  very  scarce  .         .         .         net  $28  00 

The  Reign  of  William  Rufus  and  the  Accession 

of  Henry  I. 

2  vols.  ,8° net  $8  00 

"  The  great  authority  and  one  of  the  greatest  English  historical  works 

ever  written."— S.  _  • 

Would  be  more  interesting  if  less  diffuse. 

Rogers,  J.  E.  Thorold-  {i). — Six  Centuries  of  Work  and 

Wages,     The  History  oi  English  Labor,  1250-1883. 

I  vol.,  8^ $3  00 

Traces  the  changes  in  the  position  of  the  laboring  classes  from    the 
time  when  many  of  the  peasants  were  slaves  or  serfs. 


64       Susfle0tioii5  for  "fcouseboID  Xibrarics 

Rogers,  J.  E.  Thorold-  (l>). — The   Economic  Interpre- 
tation of  History.     I  vol.,  8°  $3  oo 

An  interesting  sketch  is  given  of  the  industrial  life  of  the  primitive 
village,  and  then  in  subsequent  chapters  is  told  how  the  modem  laborer, 
capitalist,  and  landlord  came  into  existence. 

(c). — The  Industrial  and  Commercial  History  of 

England. 

I  vol.,  8° $3  oo 

"  Discussed  with  lucidity  and  analytical  power,  and  summed  up  with 
painstaking  care  and  a  judicial  mind." 

Pearson,  C.  H.  {/>). — English  History  in  the  Fourteenth 
Century. 

1  vol.,   12" $1    50 

(c). — History  of  England  during  the   Early  and 

Middle  Ages. 

2  vols.,  8"    .......         .       $10  00 

"  Distinctively  a  political  history.  The  author  is  strongly  impressed 
with  the  continuity  of  British  history." — A. 

Stubbs,  W.  {a). — The  Early  Plantagenets. 

I  vol.,  16° $1  00 

"  The  Great  Charter  and  the  founding  of  the  House  of  Commons  are 
the  events  of  greatest  importance.  They  have  been  described  by  the 
author  with  brevity,  but  with  rare  ability  and  discrimination." — A. 

Jusserand,  J.  J.  (a). — English  Wayfaring  Life  in  the 

Middle  Ages.      (14th  Century.)     Translated  by  Lucy 

Toulmin  Smith. 

I  vol.,  8° |3  50 

"  One  of  the  pleasantest  and  most  carefully  executed  pictures  of  a  side 
of  English  mediaeval  life." — Saturday  Review. 

Hall,  Hubert  t<^)— Court  Life  Under  the  Plantaganets. 
I  vol.,  8° $4  50 

Gairdner,  James  (a). — The   Houses  of  Lancaster  and 
York,  with  the  Conquest  and  Loss  of  France. 

I  vol.,  16° $1  00 

Compact  and  readable. 


Suggestions  for  "fcouscbolD  Xlbrarlcs        65 

Ramsay,  Sir  J.  H.  (6). — Lancaster  and  York :  A  Cen- 
tury of  English  History  [1399-1485]. 

2  vols.,  8°    .......         .  ttel%i)  00 

"  Full  of  minute  and  careful  independent  study." — S. 

Fenn,  Sir  John  {b). — Paston  Letters,  Written  during 
the  Reigns  of  Henry  IV.,  Edward  IV.,  and  Richard 
III.,  by  various  Persons  of  Rank  and  Consequence. 

3  vols.,  12° $7  50 

"  'Ihese  letters,  passing  between  the  members  of  a  family  of  some  note, 
are  probably  the  best  account  now  extant  of  social  life  in  England  during 
the  latter  half  of  the  fifteenth  century.  ...  The  great  value  of  the 
collection  is  in  the  fact  that  the  letters  give  us  a  real  view  of  the  coarse- 
ness of  feeline,  the  rudeness  of  manners,  and  the  low  moral  sense  that  pre- 
vailed in  England  during  the  century  when  chivalry  is  supposed  to  have 
been  in  its  perfection."— A. 

Froude,  J.  A.  {b). — History  of  England,  from  the  Fall  of 

Wolsey  to  the  Death  of  Elizabeth  [i 529-1 588]. 

12  vols.,  12° $18  00 

A  work  of  great  brilliancy  and  enormous  popularity.  An  ingenious 
specimen  of  special  pleading  in  the  attempt  to  reclaim  the  character  of 
Henry  VIII.  The  best  English  scholars  have  little  respect  for  Mr. 
Froude's  methods  or  authority.  The  coined  word  "  froudacity  "  repre- 
sents their  attitude  towards  him. 

More,  Sir  Thomas  {c). — Utopia.     Edited  by  Dibdin. 

I  vol.,  8°  [i  vol.,  12°,  $1.50]        .         .         .         .         $7  50 

"  Forcibly  describes  the  social  evils  and  abuses  of  the  first  half  of  the 
i6th  century." — S. 

Hall,  Hubert  (c). — Society  in  the  Elizabethan  Age. 
I  vol.,  8°  $4  50 

Ranke,  Leopold  von  («^).— History  of  England:  princi- 
pally in  the  17th  Century. 
6  vols.,  8° «(r/$i7  50 

"  One  of  the  greatest  works  of  the  foremost  of  living  historians." — A. 
"Specially  strong  in  English  foreign  relations."— S. 

Gardiner,  S.  R.  {(). 

History  of  England  from  the  Accession  of  James  I. 
to  the  Outbreak  of  the  Civil  War  [1603-42]. 

10  vols.,  12' $30  00 

5 


66       Suggestions  for  "fcousebolO  Xlbcaries 

Gardiner,  S.  R.  (c). — Continued. 

History  of  the  Great  Civil  War  [1642-49]. 
4  vols.,  12° $10  00 

"  All  of  Mr.  Gardiner's  work  is  distinguished  by  its  masterly  grasp  of 
facts  and  its  impartial  and  sober  judgment." — S. 

Clarendon,  Edward,  Earl  of  {c). — History  of  the  Rebel- 
lion and  Civil  Wars  in  England  [1625-60]. 
7  vols.,  8"  [7  vols.,  16°,  $7.00]    .         .         .  «^/$i7  50 

"  Royalist ;  by  a  leading  participator  in  the  events." — S. 

Gardiner,  S.  R.  {a). — The  Puritan  Revolution  [1603-60]. 

1  vol.,  16° $1  00 

Bisset,  Andrew  {a). 

History  of  the  Struggle  or  Parliamentary  Govern- 
ment in  England. 

2  vols.,  8° $7  50 

History  of  the  Commonwealth  of  England,  from 
the  Death  of  Charles  I.  to  the  Expulsion  of  the  Long 
Parliament. 

2  vols.,  8° $12  00 

From  the  Parliament  side.    Very  able. 

Macaulay,  T.  B.  (a). — The  History  of  England  from  the 
Accession   of   James    II.   [1685-1702].      (The  Intro- 
duction covering  1660-85). 
10  vols.,  12°  [5  vols.,  12",  $3.75]         .         .         .       $15  00 

**  The  most  brilliant  and  the  most  popular  of  all  English  histories." 
— A. 

Intensely  partisan. 

Ashton,  John  (a).— Social  Life  in  the  Reign  of  Queen 
Anne. 

I   vol.,   12°    ........  $2    25 

Burton,  J.  H.  (a).— History  of  the  British  Empire  dur- 
ing the  Reign  of  Queen  Anne. 

3  vols.,  8° $13  50 

"  Accurate,  careful,  and  very  interesting." — S. 


Suddcstfoiid  tor  'f)oudeboID  Xfbrarfee       67 

Lecky,  W.   E.   H.   (a). —  History  of  England  in  the 
Eighteenth  Century  [1700-1800]. 
England,  7  vols.     Ireland,  5  vols.     12  vols.  $15  00 

"  Emphasizes  national,  social,  and  economic  side.    Whig." — S. 

Stanhope,  Earl,  Lord  Mahon  (6). — History  of  England 
from  Anne  to  the  Peace  of  Versailles  [1701-83]. 
9  vols.,  12" $18  00 

"  Impartial  and  temperate.     Tory." — S. 

"  Has  been  considered  the  best  history  of  Eneland  during  the  period 
just  before  and  including  the  Revolutionary  War.    — A. 

•'Junius  "  Letters  [1769-71].     (c)  With  Woodfall's  notes. 

2  vols.,  12° tut  $2  00 

Created  much  sensation  on  their  appearance,  owing  to  their  boldness 
and  apparent  acquaintance  with  State  secrets.  Authorship  never  discov- 
ered.    Attributed  by  best  authorities  to  Sir  Philip  Francis. 

"  To  one  familiar  with  the  principal  events  of  the  period,  the  Letters 
of  Junius  will  be  of  much  value.  To  all  others,  uninteresting  and  point- 
less."— A. 

Massey,  William  {c). — A  History  of  England  during 
the  Reig^  of  George  III. 

4  vols.,  8°  I15  00 

"  The  author's  sympathies  are  with  the  Whigs,  and  he  criticises  the 
course  of  the  government  in  its  dealings  with  the  American  colonies."— A. 

Walpole,  Spencer  (c). — A  History  of  England  from  the 
Conclusion  of  the  Great  War  in  1815. 

5  vols.,  8° $36  00 

"  Not  as  popular  as  McCarthy's  history  by  any  means,  but  has  merits 
of  more  solid  quality." — S. 

Molesworth,  W.  N.  (6) — The  History  of  England,  from 
the  Year  1830  to  1874. 

3  vols.,  12° $7  50 

"  A  political  history,  from  a  liberal  point  of  view.  Pervaded  with  life 
and  spirit." — A. 

McCarthy,  Justin  (a).— A  History  of  Our  Own  Times, 

from  the  Accession  of  Queen  Victoria  [1837-90]. 

5  vols.,  8°  [3  vols..  12°  $4.50]     ....       $24  00 

"  The  work  of  a  skilful  journalist  rather  than  that  of  a  practical  histo- 
rian.    But  interesting  and  agreeable  reading." — A. 


68        QuQQCStione  for  iJousebolD  Xibrariee 

British  Orations  (a). — A  selection  of  the  more  important 
and  representative    Political  Addresses  of  the  past  two 
centuries.     Edited  by  Pres.  Charles  K.  Adams. 
4  vols.,  i6° $5  oo 

"  His  chief  aim  has  been  to  give  the  great  crucial  speeches  that  maric 
epochs  of  constitutional  changes.  .  .  .  The  result  is  a  truly  represent- 
ative work." — Saturday  Review. 

Burton,  J.  H.  (f). — The  History  of  Scotland,  from  Agri- 
cola's  Invasion  to  the  last  Jacobite  Insurrection  [1748], 

8  vols.,  12° $25  00 

"As  a  complete  record  of  one  of  the  most  turbulent  of  all  histories,  it 
is  eminently  successful." — A. 

Walpole,  C.  G.  {b). — History  of  Ireland  from  the  Earliest 
Times  to  the  Union  [1801]. 

I  vol.,  12° .  $2    50 

Froude,  J.  A.  (3). — The  Englisli  in  Ireland  in  the  i8th 
Century. 

3  vols.,  12° $4  50 

"A  vivid  picture,  written  with  great  force  ;  but  '  holding  a  brief.'  " — S. 

Two  Centuries  of  Irish  History  [1691-1870]  {h). 

I  vol.,  8° $6  50 

"  The  most  complete  history  of  Ireland  for  the  last  two  centuries." — S. 

Mill,  James  {b). — The  History  of  British  India.     Edited, 
with  continuation,  by  Prof.  H.  H.  Wilson. 

9  vols.,  8°  $27  00 

"  A  work  of  great  ability,  and  of  strong  prejudices.  Invaluable  for 
the  student  of  the  English  policy  in  the  East.   — A. 

Wheeler,  J.  T.  (a). — India  under  British  Rule :  from  the 
foundation  of  the  East  India  Company. 
1  vol.,  12° $3  50 

Hunter,  Sir  W.  W.  {c), — The  Indian  Empire :  Its  People, 
History,  and  Products. 

I  vol.,  8° $12  00 

Excellent  for  its  statistics. 

Malleson,  Col.  G.  B.  (a).— The  Indian  Mutiny  of  1857. 
I  vol.,  12° $1  75 


Suggestions  tor  fjousebolJ)  Xtbrariea        f^g 

Kinglake,  A.  W.  (*). — History  of  the  Invasion  of  the 
Crimea. 

9  vols.,   12° $22    50 

The  great  length  of  this  work  is  excused  by  the  fact  that  it  is  one  of 
the  most  brilliant  pieces  of  historical  writing  that  has  appeared  in  modern 
limes. 

Sutherland,  A.   and  G.   (6). — History  of  Australia  and 
New  Zealand,  from  1606  to  1890. 

I  vol.,  12° $1  25 

Dilke,  Sir  G.  W.  (a).— Great  Britain. 

I  vol.,  8° $2  50 

Nearly  half  the  work  treats  of  the  Australian  colonies. 

2j.    United  States. 

Mackenzie,  Robert  (a). — America  :  A  History. 

I  vol.,  12"  .         .         .         .  .         .         ,         $1  00 

"  Popular  :  fairly  good." — S. 

Smith,  Goldwin  {a). — The  United  States :  An  Outline 
of  Political  History  [1492-1871]. 
1  vol.,  12"  .......        $2  00 

On  the  whole,  the  most  readable  brief  work.  Fair,  judicious,  and 
philosophical. 

Eggleston,   Edward  (a). — The   Household   History   of 
the  United  States  and  its  People. 
I  vol.,  8" $2  50 

Excellent  popular  work.     Well  illustrated. 

Higginson,  T.  W.  (a). — Young  Folks'  History  of  the 
United  States. 
I  vol.,  12° $1  50 

Very  readable  elementary  work. 

Johnston,  Prof.  Alex.  (b). — History  of  the  United  States. 

I    vol.,    12°  .......  $1     50 

Written  for  a  text-book. 


70        Suflgestlons  for  DouaebolO  Xibcaries 

Epochs  of  American  History  (12). 

The  Colonies,  1492-1763.     By  R.  G.  Thwaites. 
Formation  of  the  Union,  1763-1829.     By  A.  B.  Hart. 
Division   and    Re-Union,    1829-1889.     By   Woodrow 
"Wilson. 
3  vols.,  16° $3  75 

Winsor,    Justin,    Editor    (c). — Narrative    and    Critical 
History  of  America. 

8  vols.,  royal  8° w^/ $44  00 

A  very  elaborate  and  valuable  work.  Fully  illustrated.  With  biblio- 
graphical and  descriptive  essays  on  the  sources  of  American  history. 

Bryce,  James  (a). — The  American  Commonwealth. 
2  vols.,  8°  «^'/$4  00 

"  Of  transcendent  importance."  —A. 

Not  a  history,  but  a  very  thorough  and  philosophical  description  of 
American  institutions  and  life,  and  the  interrelation  and  workings  of  the 
various  branches  of  the  national,  state,  and  civic  governments. 

Nadaillac,  Marquis  de  (a). — Prehistoric  America.   Trans- 
lated by  N.  D'Anvers. 
I  vol.,  8°     .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .         $3  00 

"  The  best  book  on  this  subject." — Nation. 

Foster,  J.  W.  (c). — Prehistoric  Races  of  the   United 
States. 

I  vol.,  8° $3  50 

The  author  was  an  eminent  ethnologist  and  archsologist. 

Weise,  A.  J.  {b). — The  History  of  the  Discoveries  of 
America  to  the  Year  1525. 

1  vol.,  8° $4  50 

The  work  presents  the  most  important  information  of  what  was  known 
by  the  ancients  respecting  the  Western  Hemisphere,  together  with  that 
found  in  the  Sagas  in  relation  to  the  discoveries  of  the  Northmen,  and 
also  that  contained  in  many  rare  books,  manuscripts,  and  maps  descrip- 
tive of  the  early  navigators. 

Fiske,  John  (a). — The  Discovery  of  America,  with  some 
account  of  Ancient  America  and  the  Spanish  Conquest. 

2  vols.,  12° $4  00 


Suggestions  for  f)ousebolo  Xlbrarfee        71 

Doyle,  J.  A.  (i>). — The  American  Colonies  previous  to 
the  Declaration  of  Independence. 
I  vol.,  12° $2  00 

Shows  the  early  characteristics  of  the  colonies  and  colonial  life. 

Lodge,   H.   C.  (a). — A  Short   History  of  the  English 
Colonies  in  America. 
I  vol.,  8° $3  00 

"  The  life,  the  thought,  the  manners,  and  the  habits  of  the  people 
wdl  described." — A. 

Doyle,  J.  A.  (c). — The  English  in  America. 
Virginia,  Maryland,  the  Carolinas.     i  vol. 
Puritan  Colonies.     2  vols. 
3  vols.,  8° $10  50 

Based  on  documents  in  the  Public  Record  office. 

Palfrey,  J.  G.    {c). — History   of  New   England   to   the 
Beginning  of  the  Revolutionary  War. 
5  vols.,  8° $20  00 

"  Not  only  the  most  satisfactory  history  of  New  England  we  have,  but 
one  of  the  most  admirable  historical  works  ever  produced  in  America." — A. 

Fiske,   John  (a). — The  Beginnings  of  New  England; 
or,  The  Puritan  Theocracy  in  its  Relations  to  Civil  and 
Religious  Liberty. 
1  vol.,  12°  .       , $2  00 

Frothingham,   Richard  (a). — The  Rise  of  the  Republic 
of  the  United  States. 

I  vol.,  8° $3  50 

"A  history  of  the  growth  and  sentiment  of  union." — S. 

Parkman,  Francis  (a). — The  French  in  North  America. 
Pioneers  of  France  in  the  New  World. 
The  Jesuits  in  North  America. 
La  Salle  and  the  Discovery  of  the  Great  West. 
The  Oregon  Trail. 

The  Old  Regime  in  Canada  under  Louis  XIV. 
Count   Frontenac   and  New  France   under   Louis 

XIV. 
Montcalm  and  Wolfe.     2  vols. 


72        Suggestions  for  t>ou0ebolJ)  Xibcacics 

Parkman,  Francis  (a).  —  Continued. 

The  Conspiracy  of  Pontiac.     2  vols. 

A  Half-Century  of  Conflict.     2  vols. 

12  vols.,  8°  .......       $24  00 

A  series  of  works  of  the  very  first  importance.  Written  in  a  spirited 
and  picturesque  style  that  makes  them  fascinating  reading.  Their  popu- 
larity has  been  and  is  enormous,  and  quite  unprecedented  for  special  his- 
torical works, 

Roosevelt,  Theodore  {a). — The  Winning  of  the  West. 
From  the  Alleghenies  to  the  Mississippi,  1769-83. 
2  vols. 

The  Founding  of  the  Trans-Allegheny   Common- 
wealths, 1784-90. 

Louisiana  and  the  Northwest,  1791-1809. 
4  vols.,  8°   .......         .       $10  00 

"  Written  with  the  impartial  soberness  of  history,  warmed  and  colored 
by  a  lively  imagination.  .  .  .  Admirably  done,  and  a  valuable  contribu- 
tion to  the  history  of  the  country." — Spectator. 

Fiske,  John  {a). — The  American  Revolution. 

2  vols.,  12° $4  00 

It  may  be  said  of  all  of  Prof.  Fiske's  historical  works,  that  they  repre- 
sent the  very  best  modern  scholarship,  combined  with  most  delightful  and 
,  interesting  style  and  methods. 

(a). — The  Critical  Period  of  American  History 

[1783-89]. 

I  vol.,   12° $2   00 

As  fascinating  as  an  intense  novel.  Immeasurably  superior  to  any 
other  work  treating  of  this  period. 

Bancroft,    George   {/>). — History  of  the  United  States 

from  the  Discovery  of  the  American  Continent  to 

the  Close  of  the  Revolutionary  War.     Also  History 

of  the  Formation  of  the  Constitution. 

6  vols.,  8° $15  00 

"  The  result  of  fifty  years  of  untirinz  and  almost  uninterrupted  labor. 
.  ,  .  Not  simply  a  narrative  of  events,  Dut  a  philosophical  discussion  of 
the  various  principles  and  ideas  that  have  entered  into  the  structure  of 
our  government  and  society." — A. 

But  it  is  not  a  work  that  fascinates  the  average  reader. 


Suggesttone  tor  "fcousebolJ)  Xlbraries        73 

Roosevelt,  Theodore  (6). — The  Naval  War  of  1812  ;  or, 
The  History  of  the  United  States  Navy  during  the 
Last  War  V7ith  Great  Britain. 

1  vol.,  8° $2  50 

"  The  reader  of  Mr.  Roosevelt's  book  makes  up  his  mind  that  he  is 
reading  history  and  not  romance,  and  yet  no  romance  could  surpass  it  in 
interest." 

McMaster,  Prof.  J.  B.  (a).— A  History  of  the  People  of 
the  United  States, 

5  vols.,  8" $12  50 

Brilliantly  written  ;  deals  largely  with  social  history.  The  first  volume 
is  the  most  notable. 

Four  volumes  only  have  appeared.  The  fifth  is  expected  to  bring  the 
work  down  to  the  Civil  War. 

Hildreth,  Richard  (<^).— History  of  the  United  States 
from  the  Discovery  of  America  to  the  End  of  the 
1 6th  Congress. 

6  vols.,  8° $12  00 

"A  history  of  sterling  and  permanent  value ;  somewhat  dry  but  re- 
ligiously accurate." — S. 

It  is  a  work  that  belongs  with  Bancroft. 

Schouler,  Prof.  James  (a). — History  of  the  United  States 

under  the  Constitution  [i  789-1861]. 

5  vols.,  8° $12  50 

On  the  whole  the  most  readable  continuous  work  now  available  that 
covers  the  whole  period  from  the  formation  of  the  Constitution  to  the  be- 
ginning of  the  Civil  War. 

Hoist,  Prof.  H.  von  (c). — The  Constitutional  and  Politi- 
cal History  of  the  United  States  [i 756-1861].  Trans- 
lated from  the  German. 
8  vols.,  8° «^/$25  00 

"Unquestionably  the  ablest  work  that  has  yet  been  written  on  our 
constitutional  and  political  history.  .  .  .  Often  shows  disregard  for 
proper  perspective.     Poor  and  awkward   literary  style."  — A. 

Curtis,  G.  T.  (6). — History  of  the  Origin,  Formation, 
and  Adoption  of  the  Constitution. 

2  vols.,  8° $6  00 

"  Mr.  Curtis  had  the  advantage  of  a  long  and  familiar  acquaintance 
with  Daniel  Webster,  from  whom  he  drew  much  of  the  spirit  manifested 
in  the  work." — A. 


74        SuggeetionB  (or  1)OU6ebold  Xibraries 

Scott,  E.  G.  (a). — The  Development  of  Constitutional 
Liberty  in  the  Eng^lish  Colonies  of  America. 

I  vol.,  8^     .         .         .         .         .         .         .  .         $2  50 

"  Subject  treated  thoroughly  and  with  inaght." — Nation. 

Constitutional  History  of  the  United  States  as  Seen 
in  the  Development  of  American  Law.    (a). 

1  vol.,  8" $2  00 

Lectures  in  University  of  Michigan  by  Cooley,   Hitchcock,   Biddle, 

Kent,  and  Chamberlain. 

"A  masterly  survey  of  the  subject." 

Tocqueville,  A.  de(a). — Democracy  in  America.  Trans- 
lated by  Henry  Reeve. 

2  vols.,  8° ■  .         .         $5  cx) 

"A  work  of  undoubted  genius.     It  may  be  described  as  a  book  of  com- 
ments and  speculation  on  our  political  and  social  character." — A. 

Fiske,  John  (a). 

Civil  Government  in  the  United  States  virith  Refer- 
ence to  Its  Origin. 

I  vol.,    12" «/-/$!    GO 

American  Political  Idea. 

I  vol.,    12° I     25 

Wilson,  Woodrow  (a)  Congressional  Government :  A 
Study  of  American  Politics. 

I   vol.,    12° $1     50 

"  A  brilliant  and  very  valuable  book." — A. 

Tiedeman,  C.  G.  [6)  The  Unwritten  Constitution  of  the 
United  States. 

I  vol.,  12° $1   50 

"  Cannot  be  ignored  by  any  student  of  constitutional  history  or  national 
political  development." 

Lalor,  J.  J.,  Editor  (a)  Cyclopaedia  of  Political  Science, 
Political  Economy,  and  of  the  Political  History  of 
the  United  States. 

3  vols.,  8° M<r/$r5  00 

"  Invaluable  to  the  student  of  American  history." — A. 


Sugflcstions  for  ■|)ouBcbol^  Xlbrarlcs        75 

Preston,  H.  W.  (a)  Documents  Illustrative  of  American 
History  1606-1863. 

I  vol.,  8° $1  50 

Thirty-two  Documents,  from  the  First  Virginia  Charter  to  the  Emanci- 
pation Proclamation.     With  notes  and  introduction.     Of  peculiar  value. 

Great  Words  for  Great  Americans  (a),  comprising  the 
Declaration  of  Independence,  the  Constitution,  Washing- 
ton's Circular  Letter,  Washington's  Inaugurals  and  Fare- 
well Address,  Lincoln's  Inaugural  and  Gettysburg  Address. 

I  vol.,  12° $1   50 

"  This  admirable  collection  of  immortal  papers." 

American  Orations  (a).  From  the  Colonial  period  to  the  pres- 
ent time.  Selected  with  special  reference  to  their  value 
in  throwing  light  upon  the  more  important  epochs  and 
issues  of  American  history.  Edited  by  Prof.  Alexander 
Johnston  and  by  Prof.  A.  Woodburn. 

4  vols.,  12° $5  00 

"  Very  intelligently  edited,  the  notes  being  exceedingly  interesting  and 
valuable." 

Johnston,   Prof.  Alex.  (a). — History  of  Americatr  Poli- 
tics. 
I  vol.,  16° $1  25 

Outline  of  facts,  dates,  figures. 
"  A  book  of  unusual  merit." — A. 

Cooper  and  Fenton  (c). — American  Politics  from  the 
Beginning  to  the  Present  Time. 

I  vol.,  8' $5  00 

A  valuable  collection  of  facts  and  documents,  party  platforms,  etc., 
embodying  a  non-partisan  history  of  political  parties.  A  useful  reference 
book. 

Van  Buren,  Martin  (<-). — History  of  Political  Parties  in 
the  United  States. 
I  vol.,  8° $3  50 

BoUes,  A.  S.  {<:). — Financial  History  of  the  United 
States [1774-1885]. 

3  vols.,  8" $9  50 

Both  readable  and  valuable  for  reference. 


76        Suggestions  tor  "fcousebolD  Xibraries 

Drake,  F.  S.  (c). — The  Indian  Tribes  of  the  United 
States. 

2  vols.,  4°.     (Numerous  plates)  ....       $25  00 

Historj;,  Antiquities,  Relieion,  Arts,  etc. 

An  abridgement  and  revision,  with  additions,  of  Schoolcraft's  work. 

Adams,  Henry  (a). — History  of  the  United  States  During 
the  Administrations  of  Jefferson  and  Madison 
[1801-1817]. 

9  vols.,    12° $18    GO 

"  Patriotic,  but  not  unduly  partisan."— S. 

A  worl<  which  has  been  accorded  a  very  high  rank  by  scholars,  but  has 
not  had  the  popularity  it  well  deserves. 

Rhodes,  J.  F.  (c). — History  of  the  United  States,  from 
the  compromise  of  1850. 
4  vols.,  8°,  each, $2  50 

Contents:  Vol.  I.,  1850-1854:  Vol.  II.,  1854-1860:  Vol.  III.,  1860-1862: 
Vol.  IV.,  1862-1864. 

The  complete  work  is  to  extend  to  Cleveland's  inauguration,  1885. 

"  In  no  recent  contribution  to  the  study  of  American  politics  is  there  so 
true  a  sense  of  historical  perspective  as  in  these  volumes." 

Wilson,  Henry  {c)  History  of  the  Rise  and  Fall  of  the 
Slave  Power  in  America. 

3  vols.,  8°    .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .         $9  00 

A  subjective  history,  written  with  much  intensity  of  feeling. 

Benton,  T.  H  {b). — Thirty  Years'  View ;  or,  a  History  of 
the   Working  of   the  American   Government   for  Thirty 
Years,  1820-1850. 
2  vols.,  8° $6  00 

"  A  book  of  the  greatest  consequence.  The  author  was  a  shrewd  ob- 
server, and  during  all  the  period  of  which  he  wrote,  he  was  in  the  United 
States  Senate."— A. 

Moses,  Bernard,   Professor  of  the  University  of  California. 

—  The  Establishment  of  Spanish  Rule  in  America. 

An  Introduction  to  the  History  and  Politics  of  Spanish 

America. 

12° $1  25 

"  A  timely  and  well-prepared  book.  ...  It  covers  the  whole  field 
of  Spanish  government  il  traditions  from  the  time  of  the  crusades." — 
Boston  Globe. 


Suggesttons  tor  Ijouscboio  Xlbrarlcs        77 

Greeley,  Horace  (a). — The  American  Conflict :  A  His- 
tory of  the  Great  Rebellion  in  the  United  States 
of  America,  1860-64  ;  its  causes,  incidents,  and  results; 
intended  to  exhibit  especially  its  moral  and  political 
phases,  with  the  drift  and  progress  of  American  opinion 
respecting  human  slavery,  from  1776  to  the  close  of  the 
war  for  the  Union. 

2  vols.,  8° $9  00 

"  The  first  half  of  the  first  volume  is  perhaps  the  best  existing  portrayal 
of  the  cause  that  led  gradually  up  to  the  connict." — A. 

Draper,  J.  W.  (d). — History  of  the  American  Civil  War. 

3  vols.,  8° $10  50 

Has  an  elaborate  introduction  on  the  influence  of  physical  causes  on 
American  historj'. 


Paris,    Comte   de  (i>). — History   of   the   Civil   War  in 
America.     Translated. 
4  vols.,  8".     i^Xot  computed.)       ....       $1400 
Chiefly  a  military  history.     The  author  participated  in  the  war. 

Johnson  and  Buell,  (Editors)  (^). — Battles  and  Leaders  of 

the  Civil  War. 

4  vols.,  royal  8"  ......  tiet%io  00 

Elaborately  illustrated.     Comprises    articles  written  by  many   of   the 
leading  officers. 

Stephens,  A.  H.  {a). — A  Constitutional  View  of  the  War 
Between  the  States.     Its  Causes,  Character,  Con- 
duct, and  Result. 
2  vols.,  8°    .         .         .         .         .         .  ,         $9  00 

"  There  has  probably  been  no  abler  presentation  of  the  arguments  of 
the  South."— A. 

Johnson,  Rossiter  {a). — A  Short  History  of  the  War  of 
Succession. 
I  vol.,  8° $3  00 

Very  good  brief  risumi. 


78        Sugaesttone  tor  fjousebold  Xibrariea 

Ropes,  J.  C.  (a).— The  Story  of  the  Civil  War.  A  con- 
cise account  of  the  War  in  the  United  States  of  America. 
1861-65.  (Will  probably  be  completed  in  four  parts.) 
Numerous  maps  and  plans. 

Part  I.     To  the  Opening  of  the  Campaigns  of  1862. 
Part  II.  The  Campaigns  of  1862. 
2  vols.,  8°    .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .        $4  00 

Hancock,  H.  Irving. — Life  at  West  Point.    The  Making 

of  the  American  Army  Officer  :  His  Studies,  Discipline, 

and  Amusements.     With  an  Introduction  by  Colonel  A. 

L.  Mills,  Superintendent  of  the  U.  S.  Military  Academy. 

12°,  fully  illustrated      .         ,     (By  mail,  $1  50);  «^/|i  40 

Benjamin,  Park.  —  The  United  States  Naval  Aca- 
demy. Being  the  Yarn  of  the  American  Midshipman 
(Naval  Cadet),  showing  his  life  in  the  old  Frigates  and 
Ships-of-the-Line,  and  then  at  the  Naval  School  at  An- 
napolis ;  and  how  that  Institution  became  a  famous 
Naval  College,  meanwhile  making  him  into  the  most  ac- 
complished and  versatile  young  Seaman  in  the  World  ; 
together  with  some  Reference  to  the  Boys  best  suited  for 
the  Navy,  and  what  they  must  do  and  know  to  get  into 
the  Naval  Academy,  and  what  they  have  to  Expect  while 
there  ;  and  also  many  Pictures  all  properly  stopped  to  the 
Yarn  as  it  is  handsomely  paid  out. 
Illustrated,  8°,  pp.  xvi-|- 486      .         .         .         .         $250 


Mexico,  South  America,  and  West  Indies. 

Prescott,   W.    H.   (a). —  History   of   the    Conquest    of 
Mexico. 

2  vols.,  8°.     (3  vols.,  12°,  $1    50)         .         .         .         $5  00 

Bishop,  W.   H.  {b).—0\A  Mexico  and  Her  Lost  Pro- 
vinces. 

I  vol.,  12°   .         . $2  CX) 


Sugaeetious  for  t>ou6ebolO  Xibraries        79 

Bancroft,  H.  H.  (^).— Popular  History  of  the  Mexican 
People. 
I  vol.,  8' $6  00 

Noll,  A.  H.  (-^).— A  Short  History  of  Mexico. 

I   vol.,    12° $1    50 

Markham,  C.  R.  (a).— A  History  of  Peru. 

I  vol.,  8° $2  50 

Hancock,  A.  U.  (a).— A  History  of  Chile. 

1  vol.,  8° $2  50 

Prescott,  W.  H.  {a), — History  of  the  Conquest  of  Peru. 

2  Tols.,  8°  (2  vols.,  12°,  |i  00)    .  .        $5  00 

Eden,  C.  H.  (a).— The  West  Indies. 
I  vol.,  12° $1  40 

St.  John,  Sir  S.  (a).— Hayti ;  or,  the  Black  Republic. 

I  vol.,   12° $2    25 


Siography. 

1.  Series. 

2.  Collective  Works  and  Biographical  Studies. 

3.  Individual  Biographies, — Historical. 

4.  Individual  Bic^raphies. — Literary,   Artistic,  and   Miscel- 

laneous. 

Serifs. 

Heroes  of  the  Nations.  A  series  of  Bi<^aphical  studies  of 
the  lives  and  work  of  certain  representative  historical 
characters,  about  whom  have  gathered  the  great  traditions 
of  the  Nations  to  which  they  belonged,  and  who  have 
been  accepted,  in  many  instances,  as  types  of  the  several 
National  ideals.  With  the  life  of  each  typical  character 
is  presented  a  picture  of  the  National  conditions  sur- 
rounding him  during  his  career.      The  series  is  under  the 


8o        Suggestions  for  "fcousebolD  Xibrariea 

Heroes  of  the  Nations. — Continued. 

editorial  supervision  of  Evelyn  Abbott,  M.A.,  Fell«w  of 

Balliol  College,  Oxford. 

12°.     Each  (half  leather,  $1.75)  .         .         .         .         $1   50 

To  each  "  Hero  "  is  given  one  volume,  handsomely  printed  and  ade- 
quately illustrated. 

Caesar,  Julius  [100  B.C.-44  b.c],  and  the  foundation  of 

the  Roman  Empire.     By  W.  Warde  Fowler. 
Cid  Campeador,  The  [1040-99],  and  the  Waning  of 

the  Crescent  in  the  West.     By  H.  Butler  Clarke. 
Charles   XII.   [1682-1718],  and    the    Collapse    of  the 

Swedish  Empire.     By  R.  Nisbet  Bain. 
Cicero    [106   b.c. -43  b.c]  and  the  Fall  of  the  Roman 

Republic.     By  J.  L.  Strachan-Davidson. 
Columbus,   Christopher  [1440-1506].     His  Life   and 

Voyages.     By  Washington  Irving. 
Grant,   Ulysses     S.     [1822-85],  and    the     Period  of 

National  Preservation  and  Reconstruction. 

By  Wm.  C.  Church. 
Gustavus  Adolphus  [1594-1632],  and  the  Struggle  of 

Protestantism  for  Existence.     By  C.  R.  L.  Fletcher. 
Hannibal  [247  B.C.-183  b.c]  and  theCrisisof  the  Struggle 

between  Carthage  and  Rome. 

By  W.  O'Connor  Morris. 
Henry  of  Navarre  [1553-1610]  and  the  Huguenots  in 

France.     By  P.  F.  Willert. 
Henry   the  Navigator  (Prince)  [i 394-1463]  and  the 

age  of  discovery  in  Europe.     By  C.  R.  Beazley. 
Jeanne  d'Arc  [1411-31].     Her  Life  and  Death. 

By  Mrs.  M.  O.  W.  Oliphant. 
Julian  the  Philosopher  [331-363]  and  the  Last  Struggle 

of  Paganism  against  Christianity. 

By  Alice  Gardiner. 
Lee,  Robert  E.  [1807-70],  and  the  Southern  Confeder- 
acy.    By  Prof.  Henry  A.  White. 
Lincoln,   Abraham    [1809-65],  and   the    Downfall    of 

American  Slavery.     By  Noah  Brooks. 


SuggcBtions  for  •fcouecbolD  Xtbraries        8i 

Heroes  of  the  Nations. — Continued. 

Lorenzo   de    Medici    [1448-92].      By    Edward    Arm- 
strong. 

Louis  XIV.  [1638-1715]  and  the  Zenith  of  the  French 
Monarchy.     By  Arthur  Ilassall. 

Napoleon    [i 769-1821],   Warrior  and    Ruler,    and   the 
Military  Supremacy  of  Revolutionary  France. 
By  W.  O'Connor  Morris. 

Nelson  [1758-1805]  and  the  Naval  Supremacy  of  Eng- 
land.    By  W.  Clark  Russell. 

Pericles  [492-429  b.c]  and  the  Golden  Age  of  Athens. 
By  Evelyn  Abbott. 

Robert  the  Bruce  [i 274-1 329]   and  the   Struggle  for 
Scottish  Independence.     By  Sir  Herbert  Maxwell. 

Saladin   [1137-93]   and  the  Fall  of  the    Kingdom   of 
Jerusalem.     By  Stanley  Lane-Poole. 

Sidney,    Sir   Philip   [1554-86].     Type  of  Chivalry  in 
the  Elizabethan  Age.     By  H.  R.  Fox-Bourne. 

Theodoric  the  Goth  [455-526].     The  Barbarian  Cham- 
pion of  Civilization.     By  Thomas  Hodgkin. 

Wyclif,  John  [1324-84].     Last  of  the  Schoolmen,  First 
of  the  English  Reformers.     By  Lewis  Sergeant. 

Bismarck.     By  J.  W.  Headlam. 

Alexander  the  Great.     By  Benjamin  I.  Wheeler. 

Charlemagne.     By  H.  W.  C.  Davis. 

Oliver  Cromwell.     By  Charles  Firth. 

Richelieu.     By  J.  B.  Perkins. 

Daniel  O'Connell.     By  Robert  Dunlop. 

St.  Louis  (Louis  IX).     By  Frederick  Perry. 

William  Pitt  (Lord  Chatham).     By  W.  D. 

Owen  Glyndwr.     By  A.  G.  Bradley  . 

Henry  V.     By  C.  L.  Kingsford 

Edward  Plantagenet.     By  Edward  Jenks, 
Plutarch  [ist  Century]. — Lives  of  Illustrious  Greeks  and 

Romans.     The  translation  called  Dryden's. 

Edited  by  A.  11.  Clough. 
5  vols.,  8°      .         .         .  .         .  .         .        10  00 


Green. 

net  $t 

35 

net     I 

35 

net     I 

35 

82       SuQQcetione  for  Ijousebold  Xibraries 

American  Men  of  Letters. 

i6°,  each $i   25 

Bryant,  William  Cullen  [1794-1878]. 

By  John  Bigelow. 
Cooper,  James  Fenimore  [1789-1851]. 

By  T.  R.  Lounsbury. 
Curtis,  George  William  [1824-92].  By  Edward  Carey. 
Emerson,  Ralph  Waldo  [1803-82]. 

By  O.  \V.  Holmes. 
Franklin,  Benjamin  [1706-90].     By  J.  B.  McMaster. 
Fuller,  Margaret  [1810-50].     By  T.  W.  Higginson. 
Irving,  Washington  [1783-1859J.     By  C.  D.  Warner. 
Poe,  Edgar  Allan  [1809-49].     By  G.  E.  Woodberry. 
Ripley,  George  [1809-80].     By  O.  B.  Frothingham. 
Simms,  William  Gilmore  [1806-70].    By  W.  P.  Trent. 
Taylor,  Bayard  [1825-78].     By  A.  H.  Smyth. 
Thoreau,  Henry  D.  [1817-62].     By  F.  B.  Sanborn. 
Webster,  Noah  [1782-1852].     By  H.  E.  Scudder. 
Willis,  Nathaniel  Parker  [1807-67].  By  H.  A.  Beers. 

American  Statesmen. 

16°,  each $1.25 

Adams,  John  [1735-1826].     By  J.  T.  Morse,  Jr. 
Adams,  J.  Q.  [1767-1848].     By  J.  T.  Morse,  Jr. 
Adams,  Samuel  [1722-1803].     By  J.  K.  Hosmer. 
Benton,  Thomas  H.  [1782-1858]. 

By  Theodore  Roosevelt. 
Cass,  Lewis  [1782-1866].     By  A.  C.  McLaughlin. 
Calhoun,  John  O.  [1782-1850].     By  H.  Von  Hoist. 
Clay,  Henry  [1777-1852].     2  vols.     By  Carl  Schurz. 
Franklin,  Benjamin  [1706-90].     By  J.  T.  Morse,  Jr. 
Gallatin,  Albert  [1761-1849].     By  J.  H.  Stevens. 
Hamilton,  Alexander  [1757-1804].     By  H.  C.  Lodge. 
Henry,  Patrick  [1736-99].     By  M.  C.  Tyler. 
Jackson,  Andrew  [1767-1845].     By  W.  G.  Sumner. 
Jay,  John  [1745-1829].     By  George  Pellew. 
Jefferson,  Thomas  [1743-1826].      By  J.  T.  Morse,  Jr. 


QuQQeetione  for  "bouaebold  Xtbraricd         83 

American  Statesmen. — Continued. 

Lincoln,  Abraham  [1809-65].     2  vols. 

By  J.  T.  Morse,  Jr. 
Madison,  James  [1751-1836].     By  S.  II.  Gay. 
Marshall,  John  [1755-1835].     By  A.  B.  Magruder. 
Monroe,  James  [1758-1831].     By  D.  C.  Gilman. 
Morris,  Gouveneur  [1752-1816J. 

By  Theodore  Roosevelt. 
Randolph,  John  [1773-1833].     By  Henry  Adams. 
Seward,  William  H.  [1801-1872].     T.  K.  Lothrop. 
Van  Buren,  Martin  [1782-1862J.      By  E.  M.  Shepard. 
Washington,  George  [1732-1799].     2  vols.] 

By  H.  C.  Lodge. 
Webster,  Daniel  [1782-1852].     By  H.  C.  Lodge. 

English  Men  of  Action. 

22  vols.,  12°,  each       ......        75  cts. 

Campbell,  Colin  (Lord  Clyde)  [1792-1863]. 

By  A.  Forbes. 
Clive,  Robert  (Lord)  [1725-74]. 

By  Sir  Charles  Wilson. 
Cook,  Capt.  James  [1728-79].     By  Walter  Besant. 
Dampier,  William  [1652-1715].  By  W.  Clarke  Russell. 
Drake,  Sir  Francis  [1540-95.     By  Julian  Corbett. 
Dundonald,  (Thomas  Cochrane)  loth  Earl  of  [1775- 

1860].     By  Hon.  J.  W.  Fortesque. 
Gordon,  Genl.  (Charles  George)  [1833-85]. 

By  Sir  W.  Butler. 
Havelock,  Sir  Henry  [1795-1857].     By  A.  Forbes. 
Hastings,  Warren  [1732-1818].     By  A.  Lyall. 
Henry  V.  (King  of  England)  [1388-1422]. 

By  Rev.  A.  J.  Church. 
La'wrence,  (Sir  John  Laird  Mair)  Lord  [1810-79]. 

By  Sir  Richard  Temple. 
Livingston,  David  [1813-73].     By  Thomas  Hughes. 
Monk,  George  (Duke  of  Albermarle)  [1608-70]. 

By  Julian  Corbett. 


84        SuddCBtioitd  for  'f)ou0ebold  Xlbrades 

English  Men  of  Action. — Continued. 

Montrose,  (James  Grahame)  Marquis  of  [1612-50]. 

By  Mowbray  Morris. 
Napier,  Sir  Charles  John  [1786-1860]. 

By  Sir  W.  Butler. 
Nelson,  Horatio  (Lord)  [1758-1805]. 

By  J.  K.  Laugh  ton. 
Peterborough,  (Charles  Mordant)  Earl  of  [1658]. 

By  W.  Stabbing. 
Rodney,  (George  Brydges)  Lord  [1718-92]. 

By  David  Hannay. 
Strafford  (Thomas  Wentworth)  Earl  of  [1593-1641]. 

By  H.  D.  Traill. 
Warwick  (Richard  Nevil)  Earl  of  [1420-71.] 

By  C.  W.  Oman. 
Wellington,  (Arthur  Wellesley)  Duke  of  [i 769-1852]. 

By  Geo.  Hooper. 
Wolfe,  James  [1726-59].     By  A.  G.  Bradley. 

English  Men  of  Letters. 

39  vols.,  12°,  each  75  cts.     .....       $29  25 

39  vols,  in  13       .         .  .         .         .         13  00 

Addison,  Joseph  [1672-1714].     By  W.  J.  Courthope. 

Bacon,  Francis  [1561-1626].     By  R.  W.  Church. 

Bentley,  Richard  [1662-1742].     By  R.  C.  Jebb. 

Bunyan,  John  [1628-88].     By  J.  A.  Froude. 

Burke,  Edmund  [1730-97].     By  John  Morley. 

Burns,  Robert  [1759-96].     By  J.  C.  Schairp. 

Byron,  (George  Gordon  Noel)  Lord.     By  John  Nichol, 

Carlyle,  Thomas  [1795-1881].     By  John  Nichol. 

Chaucer,  Geoffrey  [1328-1400].     By  A.  W.  Ward. 

Coleridge,  Samuel  Taylor  [1772-1834]. 
By  H.  D.  Traill. 

Cowper,  William  [1731-1800].     By  Goldwin  Smith. 

DeFoe,  Daniel  [1661-1731].     By  Wm.  Minto. 

DeQuincey,  Thomas  [1785-1859].     By  David  Masson. 

Dickens,  Charles  [1812-70].     By  A.  W.  Ward. 


Suggestions  for  "fcousebolD  Xtbraries        85 

English  Men  of  Letters. — Continued. 

Dryden,  John  [1631-1700].     By  G.  Saintsbury. 
Fielding,  Henry  [1707-54].     By  Austin  Dobson. 
Gibbon,  Edward  [1737-94].     By  J.  C.  Morrison. 
Goldsmith,  Oliver  [1728-74].     By  Wm.  Black. 
Gray,  Thomas  [1716-71].     By  E.  W.  Gosse. 
Hawthorne,  Nathaniel  [1804-64].      By  Henry  James. 
Hume,  David  [171 1-76].     By  T.  H.  Huxley. 
Johnson,  Samuel  [1709-84].     Leslie  Stephen. 
Keats,  John  [1796-1821J.     By  Sidney  Colvin. 
Lamb,  Charles  [1775-1834].     By  Alfred  Angler. 
Landor,  Walter  Savage  [i 775-1 864J. 

By  Sidney  Colvin. 
Locke,  John  [1632-1704].     By  Thomas  Fowler. 
Macaulay,  Thomas  B.  [1800-59]. 

By  J.  Cotter  Morrison. 
Milton,  John  [1608-74].     By  Mark  Pattison. 
Pope,  Alexander  [1688-1744J.     By  Leslie  Stephen. 
Scott,  Sir  Walter  [1771-1847].     By  R.  H.  Hutton. 
Shelley,  Percy  Bysshe  [1792-1822]. 

By  J.  n.  Symonds. 
Sheridan,  Richard  Brinsley  Butler. 

By  Mrs.  Oliphant. 
Sidney,  Sir  Philip  [1554-86].     By  J.  A.  Symonds. 
Southey,  Robert  [1774-1843].     By  E.  Dowden. 
Spenser,  Edmund  [1553-98].     By  R.  W.  Church. 
Sterne,  Laurence  [1713-68J.     By  11.  D.  Traill. 
Swift,  Jonathan  [1667- 1745].     By  Leslie  Stephen. 
Thackeray,  Wm.  M.  [1811-63].  By  Anthony  Trollope. 
Wordsworth,  William  [1770-1S50].     By  F.  Meyers. 


Heroes  of  the  Reformation. 

Each,  I  Vol.,  12° $1.50 

Luther,  Martin  [1483-1546].     By  Henry  E.  Jacobs. 
Erasmus,  Desiderius  [1467-1536]. 
By  Ephraim  Emerton. 


86        Sudgestions  for  f>oudebol&  Xibrariee 

Heroes  of  the  Reformation. — Continued. 
Melanchthon,  Philip  [1497-1560]. 

By  James  W.  Richard. 
Zwingli,  Huldreich  [1484-1531]. 

By  Samuel  Macauley  Jackson.    .         .         .         $2  00 
Cranmer,  Thomas  [1489-1556]. 

By  A.  F.  Pollard  .         .         .         .         »^/|l  35 

Knox^  John  [1505-72]. 

By  Henry  Cowan. 
Calvin,  John  [1509-64]. 

By  Williston  Walker. 
Beza,  Theodore  [1519-1605]. 

By  Henry  M.  Baird. 
Hiibmaier,  Balthasar.     By  Henry  C.  Vedder. 

Queen's  Prime  Ministers. 

9  vols.,  12°  ......         each  $1  00 

Aberdeen,  (George  Hamilton  Gordon)  Earl  of  [1784- 

1860].     By  Sir  A.  Gordon. 
Beaconsfield  (Benjamin  Disraeli)  Earl  of  [1805-1881]. 

By  J.  A.  Froude. 
Derby  (Edward  Geoffrey  Smith  Stanley)  14th  Earl  of 

[ 1 799-1 869].     By  George  Saintsbury. 
Gladstone,  The  Right  Hon.  Wm.  Ewart  [1809-98]. 

By  G.  W.  E.  Russell. 
Melbourne  (William  Lamb)  Viscount  [1779-1848]. 

By  Henry  Dunckley. 
Palmerston,   (Henry  John   Temple)  Viscount  [1784- 

1865].     By  the  Marquis  of  Lome. 
Peel,  Sir  Robert  [17S8-1850J.     By  Justin  McCarthy. 
Russell,  Lord  John  [1792-1878].     By  Stuart  J.  Reed]. 
Salisbury,    [Robert    Arthur    Talbot    Gascoigne  -  Cecil) 

Marquis  of  [1830-        J.     By  H.  D.  Traill. 

Twelve  English  Statesmen. 

12  vols.,  12° Each  75  cts. 

Chatham,  (William  Pitt)  Earl  of  [1708-78]. 

By  John  Morley. 
Cromwell,  Oliver  [1599-1658].     By  Frederic  Harrison. 


Sudgeetions  for  1}oudebold  Xtbraries         87 

Twrelve  English  Statesmen. — Continued. 

Elizabeth,  Queen  of  England  [1533-1603]. 

By  E.  S.  Beesley. 
EdTvard  I.,  King  of  England  [1233-1307]. 

By  J.  F.  Tout. 
Henry  II.,  King  of  England  [1133-89].  By  J.  R.  Green. 
Henry  VII.,  King  of  England  [1456-1509]. 

By  James  Gardiner. 
Peel,  Sir  Robert  [1788-1850J.     By  J.  R.  Thursfield. 
Pitt,  The  Right  Hon.  William  [1759-1806]. 

By  Lord  Rosebery. 
•     Walpole,  Horace  (4th  Earl  of  Oxford)  [1717-97]- 

By  John  Morley. 
William  III.,  or  William  Henry,  King  of  England 

[1650-1702].     By  H.  D.  Traill. 
William  the  Conqueror  [1025-1087]. 

By  E.  A.  Freeman. 
Wolsey,  Thomas  (Cardinal)  [1471-1530]. 

By  Bishop  Creighton. 

American  Men  of  Energjy  Series. 

Illustrated,  12" Each  $1  50 

Benjamin  Franklin. 
General  Israel  Putnam. 
General  Thomas  Knox. 
Paul  Jones. 

John  J.  Audubon »<f/  $1  35 

James  Lawrence,  Captain  U.  S.  N.  net    i  35 

Collective  Works  and  Biographical  Studies. 

Bayne,  Peter, — The  Chief  Actors  in  the  Puritan  Revo- 
lution. 
I  vol $4  80 

James  I.,  Laud,  Henrietta  Maria,  Charles    I.,  Charles   II.,   Argyle, 
Montrose,  Milton,  Vane,  Cromwell,  Clarendon. 

Beesly,  A.  H, — The  Gracchi,  Marius  and  Sulla. 

I  vol.,  16' $1  00 


8S        Susgestiond  for  t>ou6ebold  Xibcariea 

Beesley,  E.  S. — Catiline,  Clodius,  and  Tiberius. 

1  vol.,   12° $2    40 

A  defence. 

Bourne,    H.    R.    Fox.  —  English    Seamen   Under   the 
Tudors. 

2  vols.,  8° $8  40 

Brougham,  Henry,  Lord. — Statesmen  of  the  Time   of 
George  III. 

1  vol.,   12° $2    00 

Campbell,  Lord. — Lives  of  the  Lord  Chancellors  [Saxon 
to  1838]. 

10  vols.,   12° $17    50 

Lives  of  the  Chief  Justices  [to  1832]. 

4  vols.,  12°  .  .        ^ $7  00 

Cox,  G.  W. — Lives  of  Greek  Statesmen. 

2  vols.,    16° $2    00 

Solon  to  Themistocles.     Pausanias  to  Hermocrates. 

Daly,  Dr.  J.    B. — Radical  Pioneers  of  the  Eighteenth 
Century. 

I  vol.,  12° $2  50 

Wilkes,  Home  Tooke,  Tom  Paine,  Priestly,   Burke,  and  others, 

Dobson,  Austin. — Four  Frenchwomen. 

1  vol.,  12° $2  00 

Charlotte  Corday,   Mme.    Roland,   Princess   de   Lambelle,    Mme.   de 
Genlis. 

Dixon,  W.  H. — History  of  Two  Queens. 

4  vols.,  8° 24  00 

Catherine  of  Aragon,  Anne  Boleyn. 

Evirald,  A.    C. —  Representative   Statesmen.      Political 
Studies. 

2  vols. $9  60 

Stafford,  Halifax,  Walpole,  Chatham,  Pitt,  Eldon,  Canning, Wellington, 
Peel,  Palmerston. 


SuQQeetione  for  f)ou8ebolO  Xibraries        89 

Fitzgerald,  Percy. — History  of  Royal  Dukes  and  Prin- 
cesses of  Family  of  George  III. 
2  vols.,  8" $12  00 

Forster,  John. — Lives  of  Eminent  British  Statesmen  of 
Commonwealth. 

7  vols.,   12° $14   CO 

Cromwell,  Eliot,  Hampden,  Martin,  Pym,  Vane,  Wentworth. 

The  Caesars.     The  Tragedy  of  the  Caesars. 

By  S.  Baring  Gould. 

2  vols.,  royal  8° $7  50 

Personal  history  of  the  Emperors  of  the  Julian  Claudian  lines. 

Green,  Mrs.  Mary  A.  E. — Lives  of  the  Princesses  of 

England. 

6  vols.,  12° $25  00 

From  the  Norman  Conquest  to  the  four  daughters  of  Charles  I.  A 
companion  to  Strickland's      Queens." 

Johnson,  Samuel. — Lives  of  the  Poets. 

3  vols. .         $3  00 

Cowley,  Milton,  Otway,  Dryden,  Addison,  Prior,  Congreve,  Gay, 
Swift,  Pope,  Gray,  Lyttleton,  and  their  contemporaries. 

Kavanagh,  Julia. — Woman  in  France  in  the  Eighteenth 
Century. 

2  vols.,   12° $4   GO 

English  Women  of  Letters. 

2  vols.,  12" $7  50 

Mme.  D'Arblay,  Mrs.  Radcliffe,  Lady  Morgan,  Mrs.  Inchbald,  Maria 

Edgeworth,  Jane  Austen. 

Little  Journeys  to  the  Homes  of  Famous  Persons. 

A  series  of  literary  studies,  edited  by  Elbert  Hubbard. 

5  vols.,  16°.     Portraits  and  other  illustrations      .         $8  75 

"  The  series  is  well  conceived  and  excellently  sustained.  The  most 
captious  critic  could  not  suggest  an  improvement.  Never  was  there  more 
satisfactory  packing,  in  more  attractive  shape,  of  matter  worth  at  least  ten 
times  the  money." — Buffalo  Commercial. 


go        Suggedtions  tor  f)ou6eboId  Xibraries 

1.  To  the  Homes  of  Good  Men  and  Great. 

1.  Eliot.  5.  Turner.  g.  Thackeray. 

2.  Carlyle.  6.  Swift.  10.  Dickens. 

3.  Ruskin.  7.  Hugo.  11.  Goldsmith. 

4.  Gladstone.  8.  'Wordsworth.  12.  Shakespeare. 

2.  To  the  Homes  of  American  Authors. 

1.  Emerson.      By  George  7.  Hawthorne.     By  Geo. 

Wm.  Curtis.  Wm.  Curtis. 

2.  Bryant.      By    Caroline  8.  Audubon.      By    Parke 

M.  Kirkland.  Godwin. 

3.  Prescott.     By   Geo.    S.  9.  Irving.       By     H.     T. 

Hillard.  Tuckerman. 

4.  Lowell.     By  Charles  F.  10.  Longfellow.     By  Geo. 

Briggs.  Wm,  Curtis. 

5.  Simms.  ByWm.  Cullen  11.  Everett.      By  Geo.  S. 

Bryant.  Hillard. 

6.  Walt   Whitman.     By  12.  Bancroft.     By  Geo.  W. 

Elbert  Hubbard.  Green, 

3.  To  the  Homes  of  Famous  Women. 

1.  Elizabeth     Barrett  7.  Madame  de  Stael. 

Browning. 

2.  Madame  Guyon.  8.  Elizabeth  Fry. 

3.  Harriet  Martineau.  g.  Mary  Lamb, 

4.  Charlotte  Bronte.  10.  Jane  Austen. 

5.  Christina  Rossetti.  11.  Empress  Josephine. 

6.  Rosa  Bonheur.  12.  Mary   Wollstonecraft 

Shelley. 

d.  To  the  Homes  of  American  Statesmen. 

I.  'Washington.  5.  Hancock.  9.  Clay. 

3.  Franklin.  6.  Adams  (J.  Q.)  10.  Jay. 

3.  Hamilton.  7.  Jefferson.  11.  Seward. 

4.  Adams  (S.)  8.  Webster.  12.  Lincoln. 

5.  To  the  Homes  of  Eminent  Painters. 

1.  Michael  Angelo.  7.  Fortuny. 

2.  Rembrandt.  8.  Ary  Scheffer. 

3.  Rubens.  9.  Jean  Frangois  Millet. 

4.  Meissonier.  10.  Joshua  Reynolds. 

5.  Titian.  11.  Landseer. 

6.  Antony  Van  Dyke.  xa.  Guatave  Doti. 


Suddeetions  tor  t)oudeboId  Xibraries        91 

Marriott,  J.  A.  R. — The  Makers  of  Modern  Italy. 

I  vol.,  12° $2  50 

Mazziui,  Cavour,  Garibaldi. 

Oliphant,  Mrs.  M.  O.  W.'— Makers  of  Florence. 

I  vol.,    12'. $2    50 

Dante,  Giotto,  Savonarola,  and  their  city. 

Makers  of  Venice. 

I  vol.,  12° $2  50 

Doges,  Conquerors,  Painters,  and  Men  of  Letters. 

Makers  of  Modern  Rome. 


1  vol.,  12° $2  50 

I.  Honorable  Women  not  a  few. 

a.  The  Popes  who  made  the  Papacy. 

3.  Lo  Popolo,  and  the  Tribune  of  tne  People. 

4.  The  Popes  who  made  the  City. 

Rogers,  J.  E.  T. — Historical  Gleanings. 

2  vols.,  12° $4  CO 

Montagu,  Walpole,    Adam   Smith,   Cobbett,  Wicklif,    Laud,   Wilkes, 
Home  Tooke. 

Smith,  Goldwin. — Three  English  Statesmen. 

I  vol.,  12'' $1  50 

Pym,  Cromwell,  Younger  Pitt. 

Strickland,  Agnes, — Lives  of  the  Seven  Bishops  Com- 
mitted to  the  Tower  in  1668. 

Saucroft,  Lake,  White,  Turner,  Ken,  Lloyd,  Trelawny. 

Lives  of  the  Queens  of  England. 

8  vols.,  8° $16  00 

Includes  the  British  and   Saxon   Queens,  and   the    later   Queens  from 
Matilda  to  Anne. 


Lives  of  the  Tudor  and  Stuart  Princesses. 


I  vol.,  12°  .  $2  00 


Lives  of  the  Queens  of  Scotland  and  English 

Princesses  connected  with  the  Royal  Succession  of 
Great  Britain. 

8  vols.,  12° $3000 


92        SviQgcetione  tor  t)ou0ebold  Xibrariea 

Suetonius. — Lives  of  the  Twelve  Caesars.     Translated 
by  Dr.  A.  Thomson. 

r  vol.,  royal  8° $3  75 

A  collection  of  memoirs,  anecdotal  and  personal. 

Stephen,  Leslie. — Studies  of  a  Biographer. 

4 vols.,  12°  .......  net$boo 

Vol.  I. :  Vol.  II. : 

National  Biography,  The  Story  of  Scott's  Ruin, 

The  Evolution  of  Editors,  The  Importation  of  German, 

John  Byrom,  Matthev<^  Arnold, 

Johnsoniana,  Jovtrett's  Life, 

Gibbon's  Autobiography,  Oliver  Wendell  Holmes, 

Arthur  Young,  Life  of  Tennyson, 

■Wordsworth's  Youth.  Pascal. 

Stephen  is  one  of  the  soundest  of  our  critics.  His  cool,  shrewd  judg- 
ment IS  refreshing  in  contrast  to  the  tall  talk  which  has  been  only  too 
common  with  modern  biographers. 

Timbs,  John. — Lives  of  the  Wits  and  Humorists. 

2  vols.,   12° $5    OO 

Swift,  Steele,  Foote,  Goldsmith,  Colman,  Sheridan,  Porson,  Sydney 
Smith,  Theo.  Hook,  H.  J.  Smith. 

Vasari. — Lives  of  Sixty  of  the  Most  Eminent  Painters, 

Sculptors,   and   Architects.      Edited  in  the  light  of 

recent  discoveries  by  E.  H.  and  E.  W.  Blashfield  and  A. 

A.  Hopkins. 

4  vols.,  8° $8  OO 


Individual  Biographies.     Historical  and  Political. 

Albert,  Prince  [Consort  of  Queen  Victoria,  1819-61].    Life. 
By  Theodore  Martin. 
5  vols.,  12° $10  00 

Alexander  the  Great  [b.c.  356-323 J.     Life.     And  the  Ex- 
tension of  Greek  Rule  and  Greek  Ideas. 
By  Benj.  I.  Wheeler. 
I  vol.,  12'  .         .         .         ...         .         .         .        |l  50 


SttQQCBtione  for  Ijousebold  Xtbraried        93 

Alfred  the  Great  [848-901].     Life.     By  Thomas  Hughes. 
I  vol.,  12° $1.75 

"  One  of  the   most  perfect  characters   to  be  found  on   the  page  of 
hutory.**— T. 

Anselm,  St.  [Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  1034-nog].     Life. 
By  R.  W.  Church. 

1  vol.,  12° $2  00 

"  Considered  as  the  reviver  of  metaphysics  after  the  fall  of  the  Roman 
Empire." — T. 

Bacon,  Francis  [1561-1626J.  Life  and  Times.   By  Spedding. 

2  vols.,  8° $8  40 

Bameveldt,  John  of  [1542-1619J.     Life  and  Death. 
By  J.  L.  Motley. 
2  vols.,  8" $4  00 

Bayard,  Chevalier  [1476-1524].  Story  of.    By  G.  de  Berville 

[translated]. 
I  vol.,  16° $1  00 

"  Perhaps  no  other  i)erson  who  acted  so  unimportant  a  part  in   the 
world  ever  attained  so  wide  and  just  a  renown." 

Beaconsfield,   Earl  of  [1805-81].      Life,    Character,    and 
Works.     By  Geo.  Brandes  [translated]. 

1  vol.,  12° $4  20 

Bismarck,  K.  O.  [1813-98].     Autobiography. 

2  vols.,  8° $9  00 

Becket,  Thomas  k  [Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  11 17-70]. 

Life  and  Times.     By  J.  A.  Froude. 

I  vol.,  12° $2  50 

The  first  Saxon  Archbishop  of  Canterbury  after  the  Norman  Con- 
quest.    Assassinated  by  order  of  Henry  II. 

Bright,  John  [1811-89].   Life  and  Times.   By  W.  Robertson. 
I  vol.,  12° $3  00 

Brougham,    Henry    [ist],    Lord   [1779-1868].       Life   and 
Times.     By  himself. 

3  vols.,  12° $6  00 


94       Sudgeetione  for  130u^eboI^  Xfbrarfes 

Bruce,  Robert  [1274-1329].     And  the  Struggle  for  Scottish 
Independence.     By  Sir  Herbert  Maxwell. 

1  vol.,  12° $1  50 

Bunsen,  Baron  C.  C.   J.   [1791-1860].     Memoirs.     By  his 
widow. 

2  vols.,  8°  .         .         .         .         .         .         .         $12  00 

"  He  acquired  a  position  and  an  influence  in  English  society  which  had 
never  before  been  possessed  by  a  German  diplomatist." — Edinb.  Review. 

Burr,  Aaron  [1756-1836J.     Life.     By  James  Parton. 

2  vols.,  8° $6  00 

Caesar,  Julius  [b.c,   100-44].     Life.     And  the  Foundation 
of  the  Roman  Empire.     By  W.  Warde  Fowler. 

I  vol.,  12" $1  50 

"Appreciative,  even  enthusiastic,  but  never  extravagant." — Academy 

Caesar,  Julius.     A  Sketch.     By  J.  A.  Froude. 

I  vol.,  12° $1  50 

Very  eulogistic. 

Canning,  George  [i  770-1827].     Life  and  Times. 
By  A.  G.  Stapleton. 

1  vol.,  8° $6  40 

Carroll,  Charles,  of  CarroUton  [1737-1832].  Life,  Letters, 
and  Public  Papers.     Edited  by  Kate  M.  Rowland. 

2  vols.,  8° net  ^  00 

The  last  surviving  signer  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence. 

Cellini,  Benvenuto  [1500-71].    Autobiography.    Translated 
by  J.  Addington  Symonds. 

2  vols.,  12°  ....  .         .         $3  00 

A  famous  book.  The  author  was  a  contemporary  of  Raphael  and 
Michelangelo, — a  worker  in  metals.  Gives  an  excellent  view  of  the  man- 
ners and  people  of  the  time. 

Charles  the  Bold  [Duke  of  Burgundy,  1433-77].     Life. 
ByJ.  F.  Kirk. 

3  vols.,  8° $6  00 

An  excellent  picture  of  the  desperate  struggle  for  the  establishment  and 
maintenance  of  an  independent  monarchy  along  the  Rhine. 


Sudgedtions  tor  1)oudebold  Xfbraried         95 

Charles  V.  [Don  Carlos  I.  of  Spain,  afterwards  Emperor  of 
Germany,  1500-58].     History.     By  W.  Robertson. 
Edited  by  Prescott. 
3  vols.,  12° $4  50 

Commines,  Philip  de  [1445-1509].  Memoirs.  Containing 
the  Histories  of  Louis  XI.  and  Charles  VIII.,  and  of 
Charles  the  Bold,  Duke  of  Burgundy. 

2  vols.,  12° nef$2  CO 

The  author  has  been  called  the  father  of  modern  history.  He  was  the 
first  author  of  modem  times  to  reason  with  sagacity  on  the  character  of 
men  and  the  consequences  of  their  actions.  He  was  chamberlain  and 
councillor  to  Charles  the  Bold,  and  afterwards  to  Louis  XI. 

Cicero,  Marcus  TuUius  [b.c.   106-43].      Life.     And  the 

Fall  of  the  Roman  Republic.  By  J.  L.  Strachan-Davidson. 

I  vol.,  12° $1  50 

"  Few  biographies  have  greater  charm  of  manner,  and  few  succeed  in 
investing  the  subject  with  such  universal  interest." — Public  Opinion. 

Cobden,  Richard  [1804-65].     Life.     By  John  Morley. 
1  vol.,  8° $3  00 

Charles  XII.  [King  of  Sweden,  1682-1719].    Life.    And  the 
Collapse  of  the  Swedish  Empire.    By  R.  N.  Bain. 
I  vol.,  12° $1  50 

"  Cid  Campeador  "  [1040-1090].     Life.     And  the  Waning 
of  the  Crescent  in  the  West.     By  H.  B.  Clarke. 
I  vol.,  12° $1  50 

Columbus,  Christopher  [1435-1506].     Life  and  Voyages; 
to  which  are  added  those  of  his  Companions. 
By  Washington  Irving. 

3  vols.,  12° $4  50 

Cromw^ell,  Oliver  [1590-1658].     Life  and  Speeches.  ' 
By  Thomas  Carlyle. 

4  vols.  ,8° $5  00 

"  Since  its  appearance,  and  owing  to  it,  public  opinion  as  to  Cromwell 
may  be  said  to  nave  been  almost  reversed.  — S. 


96        Suddeetione  for  f>oudeboId  Xibratfed 

Crom^vell,  Oliver.     A  History.     Comprising  a  narrative  of , 

his  Life,  with  extracts  from  his  Letters  and  Speeches, 

and  an  account  of  the  Political,  Religious,  and  Military 

Affairs  of  England  during  his  time.     By  S.  H.  Church. 

I  vol.,  8° $3  oo 

The  author,  regarding  Hume's  treatment  of  Cromwell  as  unjust  be- 
cause disparaging,  and  Carlyle's  as  unjust  because  exalting,  has  en- 
deavored to  form  an  impartial  opinion  of  the  great  Puritan's  character. 


DeWitt,  John   [Grand   Pensioner   of    Holland,    1625-72]. 
Life.     By  M.  A.  Pontalis. 
2  vols.,  8° $Q  00 

Period  of  the  Invasion  of  Louis  XIV. 

Edward  IH.  [1312-77].    Life  and  Times.    ByW,  Longman. 

2  vols.,  8°    .         . $12  00 

Evelyn,  John  [i 620-1 706].     Diary  and  Correspondence. 
4  vols.,  12° «^/$6  00 

"Covers  the  period  1641-1705.     Evelyn  was  a  devoted  royalist." — S. 

"  Those  objects  which  interested  Evelyn  were  the  very  things  which 
Pepys  cared  least  about.  In  this  way  the  works  supplement  each  other, 
and  give  us  the  most  perfect  view  we  have  of  the  manners  and  customs 
in  England  during  the  latter  part  of  the  17th  century."— A. 

Fox,  Charles  J.  [1749-1806].     Life  and  Times. 
By  Lord  John  Russell. 

3  vols.,  12°  .......       $12  00 

"  The  most  accomplished  debater  that  ever  appeared  on  the  theatre  of 
public  affairs." — S. 

Fox,  Charles  J.     Early  History.     By  G.  O.  Trevelyan. 

I  vol.,  8" $2  50 

"  May  be  regarded  as  the  best  history  we  have  of  the  English  govern- 
ment from  the  fall  of  the  Whigs  in  1760  to  the  close  of  the  American  war. 
.     .     .     As  instructive  as  it  is  fascinating." — A. 

Francis  1.  [1494-1547].    Court  and  Reign.    By  Julia  Pardoe, 

3  vols.,  8" 15  00 

"  The  father  of  French  literature." 

Franklin,  Benjamin.     Autobiography. 

I  vol.,  16° $1  00 

Franklin,  Benjamin  [1706-go].     Life.     By  John  Bigelow. 
3  vols.,  12° $4  50 


SnQQestions  for  fjoudebold  Xibraries        97 

Frederick  II.  [the  Great,  1712-86J,     Life. 

By  Thomas  Carlyle. 

10  vols.,  12° $12  50 

"  A  work  of  superlative  genius,  which  defies  every  canon  of  criticism, 
and  sets  at  nouzht  every  rme  of  historical  composition.  It  is  a  succession 
of  startling  flashes  and  detonations.  There  is  scarcely  a  paragraph  that 
does  not  contain  in  itself  either  a  poem  or  a  picture."— A. 

Garrison,  W.  L.  [1805-79].     The  Story  of  his  Life. 
By  his  children, 
4  vols.,  8° .       $12  00 

Gladstone,  W.  E.  [1809-98].     Life,     By  Justin  McCarthy. 

1  vol.,  8' $6  00 

Gladstone,  W.  E.     Life.     By  J.  Wemyss  Reid. 

2  vols.,  8°  .         ,         ,         .         .         .         .         .         ^50 

Grant,  Ulysses  S.  [1822-84].     Personal  Memoirs. 

2  vols.,  8" .         .        $7  00 

Greeley,  Horace  [1811-72].     By  James  Parton. 

I  vol.,  8^ $2  50 

Greville,  C.  C.  F.  [1794-1865].     Journal  of  the  Reigns  of 
George  IV.,  William  IV.,  and  Victoria. 
8  vols.,  12°  .......       $16  00 

Guesclin,  Bertrand  du  [1314-80]      His  Life  and  Times. 
By  E.  V.  Stoddard, 

I  vol.,  8° $1  75 

"  It  breathes  the  old  chivalry,  and  is  a  romantic  and  thrilling  account 

of  some  of  the  most  stirring  episodes  of  old  France." 

Guizot,  F.  P.  G.  [1787-1874].    Memoirs  of  His  Own  Times. 

4  vols.,  8° $20  00 

Comparing  him  to  Burke  and  Pitt,  the  Edinburgh  Review  says: 
"  Guizot  stands  before  them  both  in  the  rare  union  of  the  contemplative 
and  active  faculties." 

Gustavus  Adolphus  [1594-1632].     Life,  and  the  Struggle 

of  Protestantism  for  Existence.     By  C.  R.  Fletcher. 

I  vol.,  12" $1  50 

There  is  no  more  consistent  and  intelligible  account  of  one  of  the  mas- 
ter spirits  of  this  confused  period  of  European  history. 


98        SuddCdtione  tor  1}oudeboID  Xfbraries 

Hampden,  John  [1594-1643].    Memorials,  and  of  bis  Times. 

By  Lord  Nugent. 

I  vol.,  12° «//$!  50 

"  He  was  possessed  with  the  most  absolute  spirit  of  popularity,  and  the 
most  absolute  faculties  to  govern  the  people  of  any  man  I  ever  knew." — 
Clarendon. 

Hannibal  [b.c.  247-183].     Life,  and  the  Crisis  of  the  Strug- 
gle between  Carthage  and  Rome. 
By  W.  O'Connor  Morris. 
I  vol.,  12°  .         i $1  50 

Hannibal  asserted  that  Alexander  was  the  greatest  general  the  world 
had  ever  seen,  Pyrrhus  the  second,  and  himself  the  third. 

Henry  III.  [1551-89].     His  Court  and  Times. 
By  M.  W.  Freer. 
3  vols.,  8° $15  00 

"  Filled  with  pictures  of  the  ceremonies  and  vanities  of  a  pompous  but 
disgusting  reign.  The  author  shows  how  the  king  in  public  could  put 
himself  in  chains,  kneel  in  ashes,  and  wear  a  chaplet  of  skulls,  while  in 
private  he  slept  in  white  satin  with  embroidered  gloves,  and  his  face 
smeared  with  perfumed  unguents." 

Henry  IV.  [of  Navarre,  1553-1610].      Life,  and  the  Hugue- 
nots in  France.     By  P.  F.  Willert. 
I  vol.,  12° $1  50 

A  vivid  and  life-like  biography,  with  a  luminous  sketch  of  the  re- 
ligious struggles  of  his  time. 

Jeanne  d'Arc  [1402-31].     Her  Life  and  Death. 
By  M.  O.  W.  Oliphant. 
I  vol.,  12° $1  50 

Lincoln,  Abraham  [1809-65].      A  History.      By   Nicolay 
and  Hay. 
ID  vols.,  8° $20  00 

Lincoln,  Abraham.     Life.     By  Noah  Brooks. 

I  vol.,  12° $1  50 

The  best  brief  popular  life. 

Lincoln,  Abraham.     A  Study.     By  Carl  Schurz. 

1  vol.,  12° $1  00 

A  very  brilliant  essay. 


Suggestions  for  "fcousebolO  Xibraries        99 

Louis  IX.  [Saint  Louis,  1214-70].     The  Good  Saint  Louis 

and  his  Times.     By  Mrs.  Bray. 

I  vol.,  12°  .  • $3  00 

"  Louis  was,"  says  Voltaire,  "  in  all  respects  a  model  for  men.  He 
made  a  profound  policy  agree  and  concur  with  exact  justice  ;  and  perhaps 
he  is  the  only  sovereign  wno  merits  this  praise." 

Louis  XL  [1423-83].     Memoirs  of  his  reign. 
By  P.  F.  Willert. 

1  vol.,   T2° $1    50 

The  age  of  Louis  XL  was  not  only  the  time  when  a  new  political  order 
was  built  up  out  of  the  decay  of  feuaalism,  but  also  the  time  when  physi- 
cal force  b<^;an  to  give  way  before  the  subtlety  of  diplomatic  methods. 

Louis  XIV.  [1638-1715].     And  the  Court  of  France. 

By  Julia  Pardoe. 

3  vols.,  8° $15  00 

Miss  Pardoe  had  an  especial  gift  for  seeing  the  interesting  features  of 
society  and  events. 

Louis  XIV.     And  the  Zenith  of  the  French  Monarchy. 
By  Arthur  Hassall. 

1  vol.,  12" $1  50 

"  No  soverei^^,"  says  Macaulay,  "  has  ever  represented  the  majesty  of 
a  great  state  with  more  dignity  and  grace.  .  .  .  He  was  not  a  great 
general ;  he  was  not  a  great  statesman  ;  but  he  was,  in  one  sense  of  the 
words,  a  great  king, 

Louis  XV.  [1710-74].     The  Old  Regime.     By  Lady  C.  C. 
Jackson. 

2  vols.,  8° $3  50 

Louis  XVI.  [1754-93].     French  Court  and  Society. 
By  Lady  C.  C.  Jackson. 
2  vols.,  8° $3  50 

Macchiavelli,  Niccolo  di  [1469-1527].     Life  and  Times. 

By  P.  Villari.     Translated  by  Lineus  Villari. 

I  vol.,  12° $2  so 

"  His  history  of  Florence  is  enough  to  immortalize  the  name  of  Mac- 
chiavelli. Seldom  has  a  more  giant  stride  been  made  in  any  department  of 
literature  than  by  this  judicious,  clear,  and  elegant  history."— Hallan. 


loo      Sudd^stfone  tor  'f)ouseboI^  Xibraries 

Mahomet  and  His  Successors  [570-632].     Life. 

By  Washington  IrVing. 

2  vols.,  12°  .         .         .         .         ,         .         .        $3  00 

"  I f_the_ religion  of  Mahomet  was  immeasurably  inferior  to  the  religion 
of  Christ,  it  was  in  most  respects  greatly  superior  to  every  form  of  pagan- 
ism of  which  we  have  any  knowledge." 

Marie  Antoinette  [1755-93].     Life.     By  M.  de  la  Roche- 
terie  [translated]. 

2  vols.,  8° $7  50 

Marie  Antoinette,     Private  Life.     By  Mme.  Campau. 
I  vol.,  12°  ........        f 2  50 

Marie  de  Medicis  [1573-1642].     Life.     By  Julia  Pardee. 

3  vols.,  8° $15  CO 

Mazarin,  Cardinal  Jules  [1602-61]..    Life. 
By  Gustave  Masson. 
I  vol.,  12° $1  50 

Medici,  Lorenzo  de'  [the  Magnificent,  1448-92].     Life. 
By  Edmund  Armstrong. 

1  vol.,  12° $1  50 

Medici,  Lorenzo  de'.     Life. 

By  Alfred  Von  Reumont.     Translated  from  the  German. 

2  vols.,  8° $9  00 

Not  merely  a  biography  of  Lorenzo,  but  a  history  of  Italy  at  the  time 
when  Lorenzo  was  its  most  important  ngure. 

Milton,  John  [1608-74].    Life  and  Times.  By  David  Masson. 

6  vols.,  8° $36  CO 

"  A  minute  history  of  the  times." — S. 

Napoleon  [1769-1821].     History.     By  P.  Lanfrey. 

4  vols.,  8" $9  00 

"  Impartial  but  severe ;  has  revolutionized  public  opinion  about 
Napoleon.     Left  unfinished  by  author's  death." — S, 


Suggestiond  for  'fcoudebolD  Xibrariee       loi 

Napoleon.     Warrior  and  Ruler,  and  the  Military  Supremacy 
of  France.     By  W.  O'Connor  Morris. 

1  vol.,  12° $1  50 

"Interesting  and  well  arranged.  Distinctly  eulogistic,  but  not 
partisan." — S. 

"  Certainly  the  best  modern  account  of  Napoleon  in  the  English  lan- 
guage. ' ' — A  cademy. 

Napoleon.     Memoirs  of  his  Court  and  Family. 
By  Mme.  Junot  (D'esse  d'Abrantes). 

4  vols.,  8° $15  00 

Napoleon.     Memoirs.     By  Mme.  de  Remusat. 

2  vols.,  8° $3  00 

"Graphic  picture  of  his  household  by  one  of  Josephine's  maids  of 
honor.     Exhibits  his  intense  selfishness  and  egotism."— S. 

Nelson,  Horatio,  Lord  [1758-1805J.     Life,  and  the  Naval 
Supremacy  of  England.     By  W,  Clark  Russell. 

1  vol.,  12° $1   50 

"If  there  was  ever  a  national  hero  in  the  true  sense  of  the  termj  Nelson 
is  the  man,  and  a  writer  more  capable  of  dealing  in  the  proper  spirit  with 
so  splendid  a  theme,  it  would  indeed  be  hard  to  find. 

Paine,  Thomas  [1737-1809].  Life.    By  Moncure  D.  Conway. 

2  vols.,  8° $5  00 

"  Paine's  life  is  now  for  the  first  time  before  us.  .  .  .  It  seems  to  us 
impossible  to  doubt  that  he  was  a  noble-hearted  man.  ...  A  work 
well  done,  and  well  worth  the  doing." — Churchman. 

Palmerston,  Viscount  [1784-1865].     Life. 
By  Bulwer  and  Ashley. 

5  vols.,  8° $25  00 

Peel,  Sir  Robert  [1788-1850].  Memoirs.  By  F.  P.  G.  Guizot. 

1  vol.,  8° Is  50 

Peter  the  Great  [1672-1725].     History.     By  E.  Schuyler. 

2  vols.,  8° $9  00 

Pepys,   Samuel    [1532-1703].     Diary,  Correspondence  and 

Life. 

9  vols.,  12° «^/$i3  50 

"  Pepys  was  Secretary  of  the  Navy  to  Charles  II.  His  Diary  forms  a 
most  interestine  and  amusing  account  of  the  social  life  and  doings  of  the 
decade  1659-69.   —S. 


102      Suggestions  for  IbousebolO  Xlbcaries 

Penn,  William  [1644-1718].     Historical  Biography. 
•      By  W.  H.  Dixon. 
I  vol.,  8° $4  80 

Pericles  [b.c.  493-429J.     And  the  Golden  Age  of  Athens. 
By  Evelyn  Abbott. 

1  vol.,  12° $1  50 

"  Mr.  Abbott  has  treated  the  subject  with  a  masterly  hand." 

Pitt,  William  [the  "  Great  Commoner,"  1759-1806].    Life. 
By  Earl  Stanhope. 
3  vols.,  8° $15  00 

Pitt,  William  [Earl  of  Chatham,  1708-78].     Memoirs. 
By  George  Tomline. 
3  vols.,  8° $14  00 

Raleigh,  Sir  Walter  [1552-1618].     Life  and  Letters. 
By  E.  Edwards. 

2  vols.,  8° $12  00 

Randolph,  Edmund  [1753-1813].  Omitted  Chapters  of 
History,  disclosed  in  the  Life  and  Papers  of  Edmund 
Randolph.     By  Moncure  D.  Conway. 

I  vol.,  8° $3  00 

"  Mr.  Conway  has  rendered  a  service  to  students  of  American  history 
by  his  arduous  and  fruitful  labors  in  a  field  largely  untilled."— /V>/.  Set. 
Quarterly. 

Richelieu,  Cardinal   [1585-1642].     Life. 
By  Gustave  Masson. 
I  vol.,  12° $1  50 

Richard  IIL  [1450-85].  Life  and  Reign.    By  James  Gairdner. 

1  vol.,  8° $4  20 

"  Supports  in  the  main  Shakespeare's  view."— S. 

Richard  III.     The  Unpopular  King.     By  A.  O.  Legge. 

2  vols.,  8° $12  00 

A  defence. 


Suggestions  for  fjousebolD  Xlbrarlcs       103 

Stein,  H.  F.  K.  Baron  von  [1757-1831].    Life  and  Tiroes  ; 
or,  Germany  and  Prussia  in  the  Napoleonic  Age. 
By  J.  R.  Seeley. 

3  vols.,  8° $12  00 

"  A    highly  valuable  work,  based  on   original  materials,  judicial  in 

tone." — S. 

Sidney,    Sir   Philip   [1554-86].     Type  of   Chivalry  in  the 
Elizabethan  Age.     By  H.  R.  Fox-Bourne. 

I  vol..  12° $1   50 

"  Sidney  lives  in  the  history  of  his  country  as  a  rare  and  finished  type 
of  English  character,  in  which  the  antiaue  honor  of  chivalry  is  seen  shad- 
ing into  the  grooves  of  the  modern  gentleman." 

Saladin  [1137-93].      And  the  Fall  of  the  Kingdona  of  Jeru- 
salem.    By  Stanley  Lane-Poole. 

1  vol.,  12° $1  50 

Savonarola,  Girolamo  [1452-98].     Life  and  Times. 
By  P.  Villari.     Translated  by  Linda  Villari. 

2  vols.,  8° $6  00 

"  His  absolutely  blameless  moral  character,  his  wonderful  ability,  his 

command  of  all  the  knowledge  of  his  time." — Quarterly  Review. 

Stockmar,  Baron  C.  F.  [i  787-1 863].     Life.     By  his  son. 

2  vols.,  8° $7  50 

Confidential  friend  and  adviser  of  Prince  Albert. 

Sully,  Duke  of  [Prime  Minister  of  Henry  IV.,  1560-1641]. 
Memoirs.     Translated  from  the  French. 

4  vols.,  12° net  %f>  00 

The  remarkable  events  of  this  reign    are  nowhere  more  adequately 

described. 

Talleyrand,  C.   M.,  Prince    de  [i 754-1838].      Memoirs. 
Edited,  with  notes,  by  the  Due  de  Broglie  [translated]. 

5  vols.,  8° $12  50 

Introduction  by  Whitelaw  Rcid. 

Theodoric  the  Goth  [455-526].     The  Barbarian  Champion 
of  Christendom.     By  Thomas  Hodgkin. 

I  vol.,  12° $i   50 

**  As  fascinating  as  a  novel." 


I04       Suggestions  tor  "fcousebolO  Xlbraries 

Victor,  Emmanuel  [1820-78].     Life.     By  G.  S.  Godkin. 
2  vols.,  12° $5  00 

Walpole,  Sir  Robert  [1676-1745].  Memoirs  of  his  Life 
and  Administration.     By  W.  Coxe. 

1  vol.,  8° $5  00 

Walpole,  Horace  [Earl  of  Oxford,  1847-97].     Letters. 

Edited  by  Peter  Cunningham. 

9  vols.,  8° $36  00 

"  Will  afford  unfailing  entertainment  to  the  reader,  and  will  leave  a 
very  singular  impression  on  the  mind  concerning  the  political  practices  of 
the  time." — A. 

Washington,  George  [1732-99].     Life.    • 
By  Washington  Irving. 
5  vols.,  12° $7  50 

Webster,  Daniel  [1782-1852].     Life.     By  G.  T.  Curtis. 

2  vols.,  8°    .         .         .         ,         .         .         .         .         $4  00 

Wellington,  Arthur  Wellesley,  Duke  of  [1796-1852]. 
Life.     By  A.  Brialmont  [translated]. 

4  vols.,  8° $20  00 

"  Best  and  most  impartial  account." — S. 

William  IV.  [1765-1837].     Life  and  Times. 
By  Percy  Fitzgerald. 

2  vols.,  8° $12  00 

A  good  view  of  the  social  life  and  manners  during  the  reign. 

Wolsey,  Thomas,  Cardinal  [1471-1530].     Life. 
By  George  Cavendish. 

1  /ol.,  12° $1   50 

William  [Prince  of  Orange,  1533-84]  the  Silent,  the  Mod- 
erate Man  of  the  XVIth  Century.  The  Story  of  his  Life. 
By  Ruth  Putnam. 

2  vols.,  8° $3  75 

"  Shows  a  vast  amount  of  intelligent  research  among  original  docu- 
ments." 

To  William  the  Silent  is  due  the  honor  of  being  the  first  among  Euro- 
pean statesmen  to  make  a  practical  application  in  government  of  the  prin- 
ciples of  religious  toleration. 


Suggcstlona  for  "fcousebolO  Xtbrariee       105 

Individual  Biographies.     Literary,  Artistic,  and 
Miscellaneous. 

Agassiz,  Louis  [1807-73].   Life  and  "Work.  By  C.  F.  Holder. 

I  vol.,  12° $1  50 

A  profound   thinker,   an   indefatigable    worker,   and   a  most  lovable 
character. 

Abelard,  Peter  [1079-1142].    By  Joseph  McCabe,  author  of 
"  Twelve  Years  in  a  Monastery,"  etc. 
12",  half  vellum »^^$2  00 

d'Arblay   Mme.  [Frances  Burney,   1 752-1840].     Diary  and 
Letters. 
4  vols.,  8° $10  00 

Audubon,  John  J.  [1780-1851].     Life  and  Journals.     Edited 
by  his  widow.  _ 

I  vol.,  12° fi   75 

"  A  grand  story  of  a  grand  life." 

Austen,  Jane  [1775-1815].  Story  of  her  Life.  ByO.F.  Adams. 

I  vol.,  12° |i   25 

"  A  well-told,  popular  biography." — S. 

Barham,  R.  H.  [1788-1845].      Life  and  Letters. 
By  R.  D.  Barham. 

I  vol.,  8° $2  50 

Author  of  the  famous  "  Ingoldsby  Legends." 

Bacon,  Francis   [Lord  Verulam,  1 561-1626].     Story  of  his 
Life.     By  W.  H.  Dixon. 

I  vol.,  8° $3  00 

Chiefly  literary. 

Bronte,  Charlotte  [1816-55],     Life.     By  Mrs.  Gaskell. 

1  vol.,  12° $1   50 

Browning,  Robert  [i8i2-8g].     Life. 
By   Mrs.  Sutherland  Orr. 

2  vcls.,  12° $4  00 


io6      Suggcsttons  for  "fcouscbolO  Xlbrariea 

Brown,  Dr.  John  [1810-82].    Memoir.    By  Dr.  John  Cairns. 
I  vol.,  12° $3  00 

Booth,  Edwrin  [1833-93].     Life.     By  his  daughter. 

1  vol.,  8" $3  00 

Borrow,  George   [1803-81].     Life,    Writings,   and   Corre- 
spondence. 

2  vols.,  8° $6  00 

"  Certainly  a  marvelously  interesting  work." — Chicago  Post. 

"  Not  only  a  complete,  painstaking,  and  delightfully  readable  life  of 
this  curious  man,  but  also  a  peculiarly  inspiring  and  stimulating  piece  )f 
Hix\\va%." — Boston  Herald. 

Bryant,  W.  C.  [1794-1878].     Life.     By  Parke  Godwin. 
2  vols.,  8° $6  00 

Buckle,  H.  T.   [1822-62].     Life  and  Writings. 
By  A.  H.  Huth. 
2  vols.,  12' $4  00 

Bunyan,  John  [1628-88].     His  Life,  Times,  and  Work. 
By  John  Brown. 
I  vol.,  12° $3  00 

Byron,  George  G.,  Lord  [1779-1852].     Life  and  Letters. 
By  Thomas  Moore. 

1  vol.,  8° $3  00 

Byron.     The  Real  Lord  Byron  :  New  Views  of  his  Life. 
By  J.  C.  JeafTreson. 

2  vols.,  8° $12  00 

Carlyle,  Thos.  [1795-188 1].     Life."   By  J.  A.  Froude. 
4  vols.,  8°    .......         .       $to  00 

Chaucer  [1328-1400J.     Life.     With  sketches  of  his  times. 
By  William  Godwin. 
4  vols.,  12° $15  00 

Chaucer  [1328-1400].     Studies  in  Chaucer.     His  Life  and 
Writings.     By  T.  R.  Lounsbury. 

3  vols.,  8° $9  00 


QuQQcetione  for  f)oudebold  Xibrarics       107 

Clough,  A.  H.  [i8ig-6i].   A  monograph.  By  S.  Waddington. 
I  vol.,  12" $3  00 

Cowper,  William  [1731-1800].    Life.    By  Thomas  Wright. 

1  vol.,  8" $5  00 

Cruikshank,  George  [1794-18].     Life.     By  B.  Jerrold. 

2  vols.,  12° $5  00 

Darwin,  Charles  [1809-82].  His  Life  and  Works 
By.  C.  F.  Holder. 

I  vol.,  12° $1  50 

"  Just,  sympathetic  and  brief — three  good  points  in  a  biography.*' 

Defoe,  Daniel  [1663-1731].     Life  and  Times. 
By  W.  Chadwick. 

1  vol.,  12° $4  20 

De  Quincey,  Thomas  [1785-1859].    Life.    By  H.  A.  Page. 

2  vols.,  12°  .         .         ,         .  .         .         $4  00 
Dickens,  Charles  [1812-70].     Life.     By  John  Forster. 

3  vols.,  12° $4  50 

Dickens,  Charles.     Letters.     Edited  by  his  daughter. 

3  vols.,  12° $4  50 

Emerson,  R.  W.  [1803-82].     Life.     By  J.  E.  Cabot. 

4  vols.,  12° $4  00 

Fulton,  Robert   [1765-1815].     Life,    and    the   History   of 
Steam  Navigation.     By  T.  W.  Knox. 

I  vol.,  12° $1  75 

"  The  best  woric  of  its  character  ever  issued.' ' — Ma^.  o/A  mer.  History. 

"George  Eliot  "  [Mary  Ann  Evans  (Cross),  1819-80].  Life. 
By  J.  W.  Cross. 
I  vol.,  12° $3  00 

Gibbon,  Edward  [1737-94].     Autobiography. 

3  vols.,  8° $13  50 

Goethe,  J.  W.  von  [1749-1832],     Life.    By  G.  H.  Lewis. 
I  vol.,  8* $6  50 


io8       Su^geetions  tor  Iboudebold  Xtbrariea 

Goldsmith,  Oliver  [1728-74].     Life  and  Times. 
By  John  Forster. 
I  vol.,  12°   ........        $3  00 

Goldsmith,  Oliver.     Life.     By  Washington  Irving. 

I  vol.,  12° $1  50 

Grote,  George  [1794-1871].    Personal  Life.    By  Mrs.  Grote. 

1  vol.,  8° $4  50 

Hare,  A.  J.  C.  [1834-     ]     Memorials  of  a  Quiet  Life. 

2  vols.,  12°,  in  I  .         .         .  .         .         $3  00 

Hawthorne,  Nat'l  [1804-64].     And  his  wife. 
By  Julian  Haw^thome. 
2  vols.,  12° $4  00 

Holmes,  O.  W.  [1809-94].     Life  and  Letters. 
By  John  T.  Morse,  Jr. 

2  vols.,  12" $4  00 

Hook,  Theod.  £.  [1788-1841].     Life  and  Remains. 
By  R.  H.  Barham. 
I  vol.,  12° $2  50 

Hunt,  J.  H.  Leigh  [1784-1859].     Autobiography. 

I  vol.,  12° $1  00 

Irving,  Washington  [1783-1859],     Life  and  Letters. 
By  Pierre  M.  Irving. 

3  vols.,  12° $4  50 

Jameson,  Mrs.  Anna  [1797-1860].     Memoirs. 
By  Geraldine  Macpherson. 
1  vol.,  8° $2  50 

Jeflferies,  Richard  [1848-87].     Eulogy.     By  Walter  Besant. 
I  vol.,  12° $2  50 

Jefferson,  Joseph  [1829-    ].     Autobiography. 

I  vol.,  8°     . $4  00 


Su0ge0tion0  (or  f^oudebold  Xibrariea       109 

Jerrold,  Douglas  [1803-57].     Life  and  Remains. 
By  Blanchard  Jerrold. 
I  vol.,  8° $5  00 

Johnson,  Samuel  [1709-84].     Life.     By  James  Boswell. 
6  vols.,  S" $10  00 

Keats,  John  [1796-1821].     Life  and  Letters. 
By  Lord  Houghton. 

1  vol.,  12°  .         .         • $3  00 

Kingsley,  Charles  [1819-75].     Life  and  Letters. 
By  his  Wife. 

2  vols.,  8° $10  00 

Kemble,  Frances  A.  [1811-93].     Records  of  a  Girlhood  and 
of  a  Later  Life. 
2  vols.,  8° $5  00 

Lamb,  Charles  [1785-1834].     Life  and  Letters. 
By  T.  N.  Talfourd. 
2  vols.  12° $3  00 

Landor,  W.  S.  [1775-1864].     A  Biography. 
By  John  Forster. 

1  vol.,  8° $5  00 

Lessing,  G.  E.  [1729-81].     Life.     By  James  Sime. 

2  vols,  8° $7  00 

Lever,  Charles  [1809-72].     Life.     By  W.  Fitzpatrick, 
I  vol.,  12°  .         .  ,  .  .         $2  50 

Longfellow,  H.  W.  [1807-82].     Life  and  Journals. 
By  Samuel  Longfellow, 

3  vols.,  8° $6  00 

Lover,  Sam'l  [1797-1868].     A  Biographical  Sketch. 
By  A.  J.  Symington. 

1  vol.,  16" $1  00 

Lowell,  J.  R.  [1819-91J.     Letters.  Edited  by  C.  E.  Norton. 

2  vols.,  8° $8  00 


no       Suflgeettons  for  "fcouBebolO  Xibrarles 

Lytton,  Lord  E.  B.  [1805-73].    Life,  Letters  and  Remains. 
By  his  Son, 
2  vols.,  12° $2  75 

Macaulay,  T.  B.  1800-59].     Life  and  Letters. 
By  G.  O.  Trevelyan. 
2  vols.,  8° $5  00 

Martineau,  Harriet  [1802-76].     Autobiography. 

2  vols.,  8° $6  00 

Mendelssohn  Family  [1729-1847].     By  S.  Hensel. 

2  vols.,  8° |6  00 

Miller,  Hugh  [1802-56].     Life  and  Letters. 
By  Peter  Bayne. 
2  vols.,  8° $12  00 

Motley,  J,  L.  [1814-77].     Memoirs.     By  O,  W.  Holmes. 

1  vol.,  12° .         .         $1  50 

Motley,  J.  L.     Correspondence. 
Edited  by  G.  W.  Curtis. 

2  vols.,  8° $7  00 

Michel  Angelo  [1474-1564].     Life.     By  H.  Grimm  [trans]. 
2  vols.,  8° $6  00 

"  Not  simply  the  life  of  a  very  extraordinary  man,  but  is  also  a  descrip- 
tion by  an  able  writer  and  critic,  of  the  most  remarkable  period  in  the 
history  of  art." 

Michel  Angelo.     A  Life.     By  J.  A.  Symonds. 
2  vols.,  8° $7  50 

Oliphant,  Laurence  [1829-88].     Life. 
By  M.  O.  W.  Oliphant. 
2  vols.,  8" $7  00 

Par£,  Ambroise  [1510-90].     Life  and  Times. 

By  Stephen  Paget. 

I  vol.,  8° $2  50 

"  Ambroise  Pari  is  justly  esteemed  the  father  of  modern  surgery. 
Every  sureeon  who  knows  the  history  of  his  art  is  proud  to  admit  that 
Pari  IS  well  worthy  to  be  placed  in  the  illustrious  group  of  the  noteworthy 
men  of  his  century." — Athenaum. 


Suade0tion0  for  'fcousebold  Xibrariee       m 

Parker,  Theodore  [1810-1S60].     Life. 
By  O.  B.  Frothingham. 

I  vol.,  8° $2  00 

"  A  manly,  candid  narrative  of  stirring  times,  and  it  is  a  gentle,  re6ned 

nature  whose  life  is  here  studied." — Nation. 

Presco.tt,  W.  H.  [1796-1859].    Life.    By  George  Ticknor. 
I  vol.,  12° $1   50 

Raphael  [1483-1520].     His  Life,  Work,  and  Times. 
By  Etigene  Muntz  [translated]. 

1  vol.,  8°     .......         .       $14  00 

Reade,  Charles  [1814-84J.     Dramatist,  Novelist,  and  Jour- 
nalist.    By  C.  L.  and  C.  Reade. 

2  vols.,  12° $9  60 

Rossetti,  D.  G.  [1828-82.]    Letters  with  Memoir. 

By  William  Michael  Rossetti.     2  vols.,  8°        .         $9  00 

Rousseau,  J.  J.  [1712-78].     Life.     By  John  Morley. 

2  vols.,  12° $3  00 

Ruskin,  John  [1819-    ].     Life  and  Work. 
By  W.  G.  Collingwood. 
2  vols.,  8° $6  00 

Scott,  Sir  Walter  [1771-1832].     Life.     By  J.  G.  Lockhart. 
10  vols.,  12° $12  50 

Selwyn,  George  [1719-91].     And  his  contemporaries. 
By  J.  H.  Jesse. 
4  vols.,  8° $15  00 

Shakespeare,  William  [1564-1616].    Life.  By  Sidney  Lee. 

1  vol.,  12° net%\  75 

Shakespeare,  William.     Outlines  of  his  Life. 
By  J.  O.  HalHwell-PhilHps. 

2  vols.,  8° $7  50 

Shakespeare,  William.     His  Life,  .\rt,  and  Character. 
By  H.  N.  Hudson. 
2  vols.,  12°  .  .         .         $4  00 


112       Suggestions  tor  f>oudebold  Xibrariee 

Shelley,  P.  B.  [1792-1822].     Life.     By  E.  Dowden. 

1  vol.,  8° $5  00 

Shelley.     The  Real  Shelley.     By  J.  C.  Jeaffreson. 

2  vols.,  8°   .......         .       fi2  00 

Sheridan,  Richard  Brinsley  [1751-1816].     Life. 
By  W.  Fraser  Rae. 
2  vols.,  8° $7  00 

Sheridan,  R.  B.  [1751-1816].  Memoirs.  By  Thomas  Moore, 
2  vols.,  8" $6  00 

Smith,  Sydney  [1771-1845].     Memoirs.     By  Lady  Holland. 
2  vols.,  8° $7  50 

Stael,  Mme.  de  [i 766-1 821].     Life.     By  A.  Stevens. 

2  vols.,  12°  .         .         .         .         .         .         .         $3  00 

Steele,  Richard  [1671-1729].     Life.     By  G.  A.  Aitken. 
2  vols.,  8° $12  00 

Stephen,  Sir  J.  F.  [1829-94].     Life. 

By  his  brother,  Leslie  Stephen 

I  vol.,  8" .         .         $4  50 

"  Deserves  a  place  among  the  half  dozen  biographies  of  the  first  order 
which  have  appeared  in  the  last  twenty  years.  It  is  a  real  biography  ;  a 
work  of  art  as  well  as  of  fraternal  affection  ;  a  life-like  picture  ofa  remark- 
able man." — London  Times. 

Sterling,  John  [1806-44].     Life.     By  Thomas  Carlyle. 

1  vol.,  12° fi  25 

Sterne,  Laurence  [1713-68].     Life.     By  Percy  Fitzgerald. 

2  vols.,  8° $9  60 

Stowe,  Harriet  B.  [181 1-96].     Life.     By  Chas.  E.  Stowe. 
I  vol.,  8° |3  75 

Strickland,  Ag^es  [1801-74].     Life.     By  her  sister. 

I  vol.,  8° $5  00 

Swift,  Jonathan  [1667-1745].     Life.     By  Henry  Craik. 
I  vol.,  8° $7  50 


Suageetione  for  ■|)ou0Cbol&  Xibrartcs       113 

Swift,  Jonathan  [1667-1745].     A  biographical  and  critical 
study.     By  J.  C.  Collins. 

1  vol.,  8° .         .         $3  20 

Taylor,  Bayard  [1825-78].     Life  and  Letters. 
By  Marie  H.  Taylor. 

2  vols.,  12° $4  00 

Tennyson,  Alfred  Lord  [1809-92].     Life  and  Letters. 
By  his  son. 
2  vols.,  8° n^t$io  00 

Tennyson.     His  Homes,  his  Friends,  and  his  Work. 
By  E.  L.  Gary. 

1  vol.,  8° $3  75 

Based  upon  the  large  mass  of  literature  which  has  come  into  existence 
in  r^;ard  to  the  life,  tne  worlc^  and  the  environment  of  the  poet  laureate. 
The  work  shows  good  critical  judgment,  and  charming  literary  style,  and 
constitutes  a  permanent  contnbution  to  the  better  understanding  of  the 
poet. 

Ticknor,  George  [1798-1871].     Life,  Letters,  and  Journals. 

2  vols.,  12° $4  00 

Trollope,  Anthony  [1815-84].     Autobiography. 

2  vols.,  8° $7  50 

Voltaire,  F,  A.  [1694-1778].     Life.     By  John  Morley. 

1  vol.,  12' $1   50 

Voltaire,  F.  A.     Life.     By  James  Parton. 

2  vols.,  8° $6  00 

Whittier,   J.  G.  [1808-92].     Life  and  Letters. 
By  S.  T.  Pickard. 

2  vols.,  12" $4  50 

Wagner,  Richard  [1813-1883].     By  W.  J.  Henderson. 
Half  vellum,  12° net  $1  60 

Wordsworth.  William  [1770-1850J.     Life. 
By  William  Knight. 

3  vols.,  12° $4  50 


114      Sm&cetione  tor  Iboueebold  Xibraries 

Selected  List  of  lOO  Biographical  Works. 

This  is  a  selection  of  one  hundred  biographical  works  from 
the  preceding  lists.  It  comprises  6i  works  in  historical  and 
political  biography,  forming  145  volumes,  and  39  in  lit- 
erary and  miscellaneous  biography,  forming  85  volumes  ;  a 
total  of  230  volumes.  Costing,  at  regular  price,  $600 — at  net 
price,  about  $475. 


a. — Historical  and  Political. 

Albert,  Prince  Consort,     By  Martin.     5  v. 
Alfred  the  Great.    By  Hughes,     i  v. 
Antoinette,  Marie.     By  Campan.     i  v. 
Bacon,  Francis.     By  Spedding.     2  v. 
Barneveld,  John  of.     By  Motley.     2  v. 
Bayard,  Chevalier.     By  de  Berville.     i  v. 
Brougham,  Henry.     By  Himself.     3  v. 
Bruce,  Robert.     By  Maxwell,     i  v. 
Bunsen,  Baron  C.  C.  J.     By  his  Widow.     2  v. 
Caesar,  Julius.     By  Fowler,     i  v. 
Cellini,  Benvenuto.     Trans,  by  Symonds.     2  v 
Charles  the  Bold.     By  Kirk.     3  v. 
Charles  XII.     By  Bain,     i  v. 
Cicero,  Marcus  TuUius.      By  Davidson,     i  v. 
Cid  Campeador.     By  Clarke,     i  v. 
Clay,  Henry.    By  Schurz.     2  v. 
Cobden,  Richard.     By  Morley.     i  v. 
Columbus,  Christopher.     By  Irving.     3  v. 
Commines,  Philip  De.     By  Himself.     2  v. 
Cromwell,  Oliver.    By  Carlyle.     4  v. 
Cromwell,  Oliver.     By  Church,     i  v. 
Evelyn,  John.     By  Himself.     4  v. 
Fox,  Charles  J.     By  Trevelyan.     i  v. 
Francis  I.     By  Pardoe.     3  v. 
Franklin,  Benjamin.     By  Bigelow.     3  v. 


Suggestions  for  1)oudebold  Xibraries       tis 

Gladstone,  William  Ewart.     Edited  by  Reid.     2  v. 

Grant,  Ulysses  S.     By  Himself.     2  v. 

Guesclin,  Bertrand  Du.     By  Stoddard,     i  v. 

Gustavus,  Adolphus.     By  Fletcher,     i  v. 

Hamilton,  Alexander.     By  Lodge,     i  v. 

Hampden,  John.     By  Nugent,     i  v. 

Hannibal.     By  Morris,     i  v. 

Henry  HI.     By  Freer.     3  v. 

Henry  IV.     By  Willert.     1  v. 

Jeanne  D'Arc.     By  Oliphant.     i  v. 

Lincoln,  Abraham.     By  Nicolay  and  Hay.     10  v 

Lincoln,  Abraham.     By  Brooks,     i  v. 

Louis  XIV.     By  Hassall.     i  v. 

Macchiavelli,  Niccolo  Di.     By  Villari.     2  r. 

Mahomet.     By  Irving.     2  v. 

Medici  Lorenzo  de.     By  Armstrong,     i  v. 

Milton,  John.     By  Masson.     6  v. 

Napoleon  I.     By  Lanfrey.     4  v. 

Napoleon,  Warrior  and  Ruler.     By  Morris,     i  v. 

Nelson,  Horatio,  Lord.     By  Russell,     i  v. 

Paine,  Thomas.     By  Conway,     2  v. 

Penn,  William.     By  Dixon,     i  v. 

Pepys,  Samuel.     By  Pepys.     10  v. 

Pericles.     By  Abbott,     i  v. 

Peter  the  Great.     By  Schuyler.     2  v. 

Pitt,  William  "  The  Great  Commoner."        By  Stanhope. 

3v. 
Plutarch.     Edited  by  Clough.     5  v. 
Saladin.     By  Poole,     i  v. 
Savonarola,  Girolamo.     By  Villari.     2  v. 
Sidney,  Sir  Philip.     By  Bourne,     i  v. 
Stein,  H.  F.  K.,  Baron  von.     By  Seeley.     3  v. 
Sully,  Duke  of.     By  Sully.     4  v. 
Walpole,  Horace.     Edited  by  Cunningham.     9  v. 
Washington,  George.     By  Irving.     5  v. 
William  the  Silent.     By  Putnam.     2  v. 
Wolsey,  Thomas,  Cardinal.     By  Cavendish,      i  v. 


xi6       Su0de0tion0  for  f^ousebolD  Xibcariee 

b. — Literary  and  Miscellaneous. 

Agassiz,  Louis.     By  Holder,     i  v, 

Angelo,  Michael.     By  Grimm.     2  v. 

D'Arblay,  Mme.     By  Herself.     4  v. 

Audubon,  John  J.     Edited  by  his  Widow,     i  v. 

Byron,  George  Gordon,  Lord.     By  Moore,     i  v. 

Carlyle,  Thomas.     By  Froude.    4  v. 

Chaucer,  Geoffery.     By  Lounsbury.     3  v. 

Darwin,  Charles.     By  Holder,     i  v. 

Dickens,  Charles.     By  Foster.     3  v. 

Eliot,  George.     By  Cross,     i  v. 

Emerson,  Ralph  Waldo.     By  Cabot.     2  v. 

Fulton,  Robert.     By  Knox,     i  v. 

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Goethe,  J.  W.  von.     By  Lewes,     r  v.  t 

Goldsmith,  Oliver.     By  Irving,     i  v. 

Hare,  A.  J.  C.     By  Himself,     r  v. 

Hawthorne,  Nathaniel.     By  Hawthorne.     2  v. 

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Irving,  Washington.     By  Irving.     3  v. 

Johnson,  Samuel.     By  Boswell.     6  v. 

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Shakespeare,  William.     By  Lee.     i  v. 

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SuggcBtions  tor  t)oudebold  Xibrartee       117 

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Suggedtiond  tor  f)ou6ebolO  Xlbracies       119 

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Sudgeetione  foe  f^ouseboli)  Xibcariee       121 

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.  n€t%i 

80 

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25 

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00 

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00 

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00 

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00 

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00 

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00 

|I 

50 

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Baynes,  Herbert.     Dante  and  His  Ideal. 

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Musgrave,  George.     Rhymed  verse,    i  vol.,  12°         |i  50 

PARADISE. 

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BANQUET. 

Hillard,  Katharine,     i  vol.,         8'     .        .        .        I3  00 


126      Su0flC0tions  for  Ijousebold  Xlbrariee 

French. 

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Van  Laun,  Henry. — The  History  of  French  Literature. 

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II.  From"  the   Renaissance  to  the   Close  of  the 
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Swinburne,  A.  C. — A  Study  of  Victor  Hugo. 

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Saltus,  E.  £. — Balzac,    t  vol.,  12°     .        .  $1  25 

German. 

Gostwick  and  Harrison. — Outlines  of  German  Liter- 
ature.    I  vol.,  8° $2  50 

Scherer,  William. — History  of  German  Literature. 

2  vols.,  12°  ........  net%'},  50 

Taylor,  Bayard. — Studies  in  German  Literature. 

Edited  by  Marie  Taylor.     8'  .         $200 

"  The  work  of  a  painstaking  scholar,  who  can  select  with  rare  discern- 
ment what  should  come  to  the  foreground  of  attention,  and  who  has  the 
power  of  expressing  his  own  views  with  exceptional  grace," 

Dippold,  G.  T. — The  Great  Epics  of  Mediaeval  Germany. 

An  Outline  of  their  Contents  and  History. 

I  vol.,  12° $x   50 

• 
Dowden,  Edward. — New  Studies  in  Literature. 

I  vol.,  8° $3  00 

Five  chapters  devoted  to  Goethe. 

Hosmer,  J.  K. — Short  History  of  German  Literature. 
I  vol.,  8° $2  00 

McLaughlin,   E.   T. — Studies   in   Mediaeval   Life  and 
Literature,     i  vol.,  12° $1  25 

Boyesen,  H.   H. — Goethe  and   Schiller. — Their  Lives 
and  Works.     With  a  commentary  on  Faust. 
I  vol.,  12° $2  00 


Suggestions  for  "fcousebolD  libraries       129 

Dudley,  M.  W.— The  Poetry  and  Philosophy  of  Goethe. 

I  vol.,    12° $t    50 

Foreign  Classics  for  English  Readers. 

I  vol.,  16 \  each $i  oo 

Goethe.     By  Hayward. 
Schiller.     By  Sime. 

Critical  Biographical  Studies,    i  vol.,  12°,  each        $1  00 
Heine.     By  Sharp. 
Lessing.     By  Rolleston. 
Schopenhauer.     By  Wallace. 

Translations  of  Goethe's  Faust. 

Blackie,  Prof.  J.  S.  (Part  I.  only),  i  vol.,  crown  8°  |i  75 
Hayward,  A.  (Part  I.  only),  i  vol.,  12°  .  .  net%i  50 
McClintock,  R.  (Part  I.  only),  i  vol.,  sq.  8°  .  net%\  20 
Swanwick,  Anna.     2  vols.,  12"    .  .  nel%'2  00 

Taylor,  Bayard.     2  vols.,  crown  8"      .        .  $400 

Huth,  A.  H.     I  vol.,  8" $2  00 

Martin,  Sir  Thomas.  4  vols.,  S'  .  .  .  «<'/$3  40 
Turner,  E.  J.  and  E.  D.  A.  Morshead. 

I  vol.,  crown  8° «if/$3  00 

Spanish. 

Kelly,  J.  F.  M.— Spanish  Literature,    i  vol.  12°       $r  50 

Ticknor,  George. — History  of  Spanish  Literature. 
3  vols.,  8° $10  00 

Clarke,   H.  B. — Spanish    Literature.       An   Elementary 
Handbook,     i  vol.,  12° net%\  to 

French,    R.    C.  —  Essay   on  the    Life  and    Genius  of 
Calderon.     1  vol.,  8" $3  00 


130      Suggestions  for  "foousebolD  Xibrarics 

Kelly,  J.  F.  M. — Biographical  Literary  Study  of  Cer- 
vantes.    I  vol.,  8° $6  50 

Watts,  H.  E.— Cervantes,  his  Life  and  Works, 

I  vol.,  8° $2  50 

Foreign  Classics  for  English  Readers. 

I  vol.,  16°,  each $r  00 

Cervantes.     By  Mrs  Oliphant. 
Calderon.     By  Hasell. 


Miscellaneous  European. 

Horn,  F.  W. — The  Literature  of  Scandinavian  North. 
I  vol.,  8° $3  50 

Gosse,  Edmund. — Studies  in  the  Literature  of  Northern 
Europe,     i  vol.,  8° $3  00 

Boyesen,  H.  H. — Essays  on  Scandinavian  Literature. 

I   vol.,    12° $1    50 

Jaeger,  Heinrik. — Heinrik  Ibsen :  A  Critical  Biography. 

I  vol.,  12° |i  50 

Lutzon  Count. — Bohemian  Literature, 

I  vol.,  12° $1  50 

Reich,  Emil. — Hungarian  Literature.     An  Historical  and 
Critical  Survey,     i  vol.,  12°     .         .         .         .         $1  75 

Wiener,  Leo. — Anthology  of  Russian  Literature. 

In  two  parts,  8°,     Each  .         .         .         .         «^/  $3  00 

Morfil,  W.  R. — Slavonic  Literature,    i  vol.  16°        $1  co 
Panin,  Ivan. — Lectures  on  Russian  Literature. 

I  vol.,    12° $1    50 

Pushkin,  Gogol,  Turgenef,  Tolstoi. 


SmQcetione  for  fjousebolD  Xibracted       131 


English. 


English  Men  of  Letters. 

Edited  by  John  Morley. 


Critical  Studies. 
I  vol.  12°  each  . 


Addison 

Bacon 

Bentley 

Burke 

Burns 

Bunyan 

Byron 

Carlyle 

Chaucer 

Coleridge 

Cowper 

De  Foe 

De  Quincey 


Dickens 

Dryden 

Fielding 

Gibbon 

Goldsmith 

Gray 

Hawthorne 

Hume 

Johnson 

Keats 

Lamb 

Landor 

Locke 


75  cts. 

Macaulay 

Milton 

Pope 

Scott 

Shelley 

Sidney 

Sheridan 

Spenser 

Sterne 

Swift 

Southey 

Thackeray 

Wordsw^orth 


Taine,  H.  A. — History  of  English  Literature. 
4  vols.,  8° 


$7  50 


Jusserand,  J.  J.— A  Literary  History  of  the  English 
People.  From  the  Earliest  Times  to  the  Present  Day. 
To  be  completed  in  three  parts,  each  part  forming  one 
volume.     Sold  separately. 

Part  I.  —  From  the  Origins  to  the   Renaissance. 
With  frontispiece.     8°,  gilt  top  .         .        $3  50 

In  Preparation  : 

Part  II — From  the  Renaissance  to  Pope. 

Part  III  — From  Pope  to  the  Present  Day. 

"Mr.  J[usserand's  qualificarions  for  the  task  which  he  has  undertaken 
are  of  a  high  order.  There  are  few  foreigners,  and  certainly  very  few 
Frenchmen,  who  have  so  intimate  a  knowtedge  of  English  life  ;  he  has 
already  gained  great  distinction  as  an  original  investigator  in  more  than 
one  period  of  English  literary  history ;  and  although  his  point  of  view  in 
the  present  work  is  unmistakably  that  of  a  Frenchman,  he  shows  a  degree 
of  sympathetic  insight  which  is  seldom  met  with  in  foreign  critics  of  our 
literature." — London  Athenaum. 

"  Thebook  bears  witness  on  every  page  to  having  been  written  by  one 
whose  mind  was  overflowing  with  information,  ana  whose  heart  was  in 
abounding  sympathy  with  his  work.  Mr.  Jusserand  possesses  pre-emi- 
nently the  modem  spirit  of  inquiry,  which  has  for  its  object  the  attain- 
ment of  truth  and  a  comprehension  of  the  beginnings  of  things  and  of  the 
causes  that  have  brought  about  effects." — Neio  York  Timet. 


132       Suggestions  tor  fJousebolD  Xibracies 

Dobson,  Austin. — Handbook  of  English  Literature. 

I  vol..   12° $2    50 

Ryland,  Frederic.^ — Chronological  Outlines  of  English 
Literature.       i  vol.,  12°         ...         .  ne/$i  40 

Gosse,   Edmund. — Short   History   of  Modern   English 
Literature.     (Chaucer to  Tennyson),   i  vol.,  12°        $1  50 

Richardson,  A.  S. — Talks  on  English  Literature  from 
the  Conquest  A.D.  449  to  1892.      i  vol.,  8°        |i  50 

Bascom,  John. — Philosophy  of  English  Literature. 

I  vol.,  12" $1  50 

"  This  book  is  one  which  cannot  be  too  highly  recommended  to  those 
who  have  begun  to  think  earnestly  or  care  to  begin," 

Tuckerman,    Bayard. — A    History   of    English   Prose 
Fiction.     From  Sir  Edward  Mallory  to  George  Eliot. 

I  vol.,  8° $1  75 

"  Mr.  Tuckerman's  volume  is  what  may  be  called  a  history  of  the  evo- 
lution of  the  Anglo-Saxon  novel  as  illustrated  by  the  progress  of  Anglo- 
Saxon  civilization  and  morality.  The  author's  style  is  easy  and  simple, 
and  his  book,  from  its  subject  and  treatment,  interesting  throughout." 

Dunlop,  John. — History  of  Fiction.   2  vols.,  12° .  «^/  $3  00 

Saintsbury,  George. — Elizabethan  Literature. 

I  vol.,  12°  ........  net%i  00 

Gosse,  Edmund. — History  of  English  Literature  in  the 
i8th  Century,     i  vol.,  12°     .  .         .  net%i  00 

Saintsbury,  George. — History   of  Nineteenth-Century 

Literature  [1780-1895].     1  vol.,  12°       .        .  7iet%i  50 

Brooke,  Stopford  A. — History  of  Early  English  Litera- 
ture.      I  vol.,   12° $2    50 

Jusserand,   J.  J. — Piers  Plowman  [1363-1399]-     A  Con- 
tribution to  the  History  of  English  Mysticism. 

I  vol.,  8° $3  50 

"  This  work  fills  a  gap  and  will  be  appreciatively  welcomed." 


Suggegttone  tor  "fcousebolD  Xibraries        133 

Earle,  John. — Anglo-Saxon  Literature. 

I  vol.,  16° $1  00 

Washburn,    E.  W. — Studies  in  Early   English   Liter- 
ature.    I  vol.,  8' $1  50 

'•  It  has  a  freshness  about  it  which  commends  it  to  the  reader  interested 
in  the  subject  of  early  English  Literature." 

Brink,  Bemhard  ten. — Early  English  Literature. 

3  vols.,  12° «^^$6  00 

I. — Anglo-Saxon  Period  to  Wyclif. 

n.  and  III. — To  the  Accession  of  Elizabeth. 

Lounsbury,  T.  R. — Studies  in  Chaucer.     His  Life  and 
Writings.     3  vols.,  8°       .         .         .         .         .         $9  00 

Swinburne,  A.  C. — A  Study  of  Ben  Jonson. 

I  vol.,  12° $2  50 

Whipple,    E.    P.  —  The    Literature    of   the    Age    of 
Elizabeth,     i  vol.,  12°  ....        $1  50 

Ward,  A.  W. — History  of  English  Dramatic  Literature 
to  the  Death  of  Queen  Anne.     3  vols.,  8"     .  net^  00 

Hazlitt,  William. — The  Literature  of  the  Age  of  Eliza- 
beth, and  the  Characters  of  Shakespeare's  Plays. 
I  vol.,  12° '    .  «^/$i  00 

Courthope,  W.  J. — History  of  English  Poetry. 

vols.  I  and  2,  each       ......  nei  $2  50 

I.  The  Middle  Ages. 
II.  Renaissance  and  Reformation. 

Raleigh,  Walter. — The  English  Novel  from  its  Origin 
to  Sir  Walter  Scott. 

I  vol.,    12° «^/$I    25 

Lanier,  Sidney. — The  English  Novel. 
I  vol.,  8° $2  00 


134       Suddcations  toe  ttoueebold  Xibraries 

Jusserand,  J.  J.— The  English  Novel  in  the  Time  of 

Shakespeare.     Translated  by  Elizabeth  Lee.     Revised 

and  enlarged  by  the  author. 

I  vol.,  8°,  illustrated    ......  net^  oo 

"  We  hasten  to  invite  the  attention  of  the  reader  to  one  of  the  brightest 
most  scholarly,  and  most  interesting  volumes  of  literary  history  which  it 
has  been  our  good  fortune  to  meet  with  for  many  a  long  day.  — London 
Speaker. 

Dawson,  W.  J. — The  Makers  of  Modern  English.     A 

popular  handbook  of  the  greater  poets  of  the  century. 
I  vol.,  12' $1   75 

Oliphant,  Mrs.  M.  O.W.— Literary  History  of  England 
During  the  End  of  the  1 8th  and  the  Beginning  of  the 
19th  Centuries. 

3  vols.,  12° $3  00 

Harrison,  Frederic. — Studies  in  Early  Victorian  Liter- 
ature. 

I  vol.,  12" |i   50 

Stedman,  E.  C. — The  Victorian  Poets. 

I  vol.,  8" $2  25 

SHAKESPEARE. 

Gervinus,  G.  G.     Shakesperian  Commentaries. 

I  vol.,  royal  8" $5  25 

Schlegel,  A.  W. — Lectures  on  Dramatic  Art  and 
Literature,     i  vol.,  12°         .        .        .  $1  00 

Boas,  F.  L. — Shakespeare  and  his  Predecessors  in 
the  English  Drama,     i  vol.,  12°  .         .  net%i  50 

Brink,  Bernhard  ten. — Five  Lectures  on  Shakespeare. 

I  vol.,   12° $1    25 

Coleridge,  S.  T. — Lectures  on  Shakespeare. 

I  vol.,   12°  tut  %\    OQ 

Moulton,  R.  G. — Shakespeare  as  a  Dramatic  Artist. 
I  vol..  8° net%\  90 


SuddCdttons  tor  "fcoudebold  Xtbrartes       135 

Lewes,  Louis.,  Ph.D. — The  Women  of  Shakespeare. 
Translated  from  the  German  by  Helen  Zimmem. 
I  vol.,  8° $2  50 

The  work  comprises:  i.  A  stud}'  of  the  characteristics  of  the  age  in 
which  Shakespeare  wrote,  a.  A  brief  description  of  the  rise  and  develop- 
ment of  dramatic  poetry  pnor  to  Shakespeare's  appearance.  3.  A  brief 
account  of  the  poet's  life.  4.  The  English  stage  at  the  time  of  Shake- 
speare. 5.  Critical  studies  of  each  one  of  the  female  characters  in  the 
plays. 

"  This  is  the  work  of  a  learned  and  sensible  German  who  seems  to  have 
devoted  thought  and  study  for  many  years  to  the  plays  of  Shakespeare 
and  to  have  kept  himself  well  informed.  .  .  .  The  thoughts  he  puts 
before  us  are  sensible." 

Jameson,  Mrs. — Characteristics   of  Women.      Shakes- 
peare's Female  Characters. 
I  vol.,  12' fi   50 

Symonds,  J.  A. — Predecessors  of  Shakespeare. 

1  vol.,  8° $7  50 

Brandes,   George. — William   Shakespeare.      A  Critical 
Study. 

2  vols.,  8" «<f/$8  00 

Hudson,   H.  N. — Life,  Art,  and  Characters  of  Shake- 
speare. 
2  vols.,  12"  .......         $5  CO 

Dowden,   Edw^ard.— Shakespeare.     A  Critical   Study  of 
his  Mind  and  Art. 
1  vol.,  12° |i   75 

White,  R.  G. — Studies  in  Shakespeare. 

I  vol.,  8° $1  75 

Swinburne,  A.  C. — Study  of  Shakespeare. 

I  vol.,  12' $3  00 

Fancit,  Helen  (Lady  Martin). — Some   of  Shakespeare's 
Female  Characters. 
I  vol.,  8" $3  00 

Dowden,  Ed^ivard. — Primer  of  Shakespeare. 

net  35  cts. 


136       Suggestions  tor  tJousebolJ)  Xlbraries 

Corson,  Hiram. — Introduction  to  the  Study  of  Shake- 
speare. 
I  vol.,  i6"   ........  wf/$i   50 

Dyer,  T.  F.  T. — Folk  Lore  of  Shakespeare. 

I  vol.,   12°    . $2    50 

TENNYSON. 

Brooke,  Stopford  A. — Tennyson.     His  Art  and  Relation 

to  Modern  Life. 

1  vol.,  12° $2  00 

"Among  the  many  books  of  note,  criticism,  appreciation,  and  eulogy, 
called  forth  by  Tennyson's  life  and  art,  this  volume  by  Stopford  Br jOke 
is  the  best  that  we  have  read.  From  the  opening  sentence  of  the  intro- 
duction to  the  final  word  of  the  last  chapter,  the  writing  is  calm,  digni- 
fied, and  crystal  clear." 

Cary,  E.  L. — Alfred  Tennyson.     His  Home,  his  Friends, 
and  his  Work. 
I  vol.,  royal  8° $3  75 

"  Will  constitute  a  permanent  contribution  to  the  better  understanding 
of  the  poet.     The  beautiful  plates  add  not  a  little  to  its  volume." 

Van  Dyke,  Henry. — The  Poetry  of  Tennyson. 

I  vol.,  12° |;2  00 

Gurteen,  S.  H. — The  Arthurian  Epic.     A  Comparative 
Study  of  the  Cambrian,  Breton,  and  Anglo-Norman  ver- 
sions of  the  story,  and  Tennyson's  "  Idylls  of  the  King." 
I  vol.,  8° $2  00 

"  Mr.  Gurteen  has  devoted  a  great  deal  of  careful  and  conscientious 
study  to  his  subject.  .  .  .  His  treatment  is  scholarly,  interesting,  and 
exhaustive,  and  when  you  have  read  it  through  you  have  a  feeling  that 
your  author  has  done  you  a  real  service,  and  given  you  a  great  many 
pleasant  hours.  The  author's  enthusiasm  takes  possession  of  the  reader, 
and  he  finds  himself  enjoying  the  stories    ...     to  the  top  of  his  bent.' 

Littledale,  N. — Essays  on  Lord  Tennyson's  Idylls  of 
the  King. 
I  vol.,  12° $1  25 

BRO^VNING. 

Nettleship,    T.    J.  —  Robert    Browning.       Essays    and 
Thoughts.     Portrait. 
12° $3  25 


Suggestions  for  "bousebolO  Xlbrarles        137 

Browning   Studies.  —  Select   Papers  by   Members  of  the 
Browning  Society.     Edited  by  Dr.  Berdoe. 
8° $2  25 

Boston  Bro'wrning  Society  Papers. 

8° mi  $2  00 

Berdoe,  Ed'ward. — Browning  and  the  Christian  Faith. 

12° $1  75 

Browning  Cyclopedia.  ^ 

8" $3  50 

Cary,  E,  L. — Browning,  Poet  and  Man.     A  Survey, 
large  8° $3  75 

Cooke,   G.   W.— A  Guide  Book  to  Poetical  and  Dra- 
matical Works  of  Robert  Browning. 
8° $2  00 

Corson,    Hiram.  —  An   Introduction   to    the   Study   of 
Browning's  Poetry 
12° $1  50 

Jones,  Henry. — Brow^ning  as  a  Philosophical  and  Reli- 
gious Teacher, 
Crown  8° «^/  $2  25 

Fotheringham,    J. — Studies  in   the   Mind   and   Art   of 
Robert  Browning.     Revised  Edition. 
8° net  $2  2$ 

Symons,  A. — Introduction  to  the  Study  of  Bro'wning. 
12° 75  cts. 

Alexander,    W.    J. — Introduction    to    the    Poetry    of 
Browning. 
12° Turi$i  00 

Orr,   Mrs.  Sutherland. —  Handbook  to  Robert  Brown- 
ing's Works.     Revised  Edition. 
12° $1  75 


138      Suggestions  for  DouseboIO  Xlbraries 

Berdoe,  Edward. — Browning's  Message  to  his  Time. 

Portrait.     16" 90  cts. 

Revell,  Wm.  F. — Brow^ning's  Criticism  of  Life. 

Portrait.     16°     .......         go  cts. 

Triggs,  Oscar  L. — Brow^ning  and  Whitman.     A  Study 
ill  Democracy. 
16"     .........  90  cts. 


American. 

Richardson,  C.  F. — Primer  of  American  Literature. 

1  vol.,  16'  .......  net  35  cts. 

Richardson,  C.  F. — American  Literature,  1 607-1 885. 
Part  I. — The  Development  of  American  Thought. 
Part  II. — American  Poetry  and  Fiction. 

2  vols.,  8°  (cheaper  edition,  2  vols.,  in  I  $3.50)     .  $6  00 

"  A  book  that  is  a  credit  to  the  writer  and  to  the  nation,  and  which"  has 
a  grand  future." 

"  It  is  the  most  thoughtful  and  suggestive  work  on  American  Litera- 
ture that  has  been  published." 

"  The  author  has  given  us  a  delightful  book,  as  well  as  a  helpful  one  ; 
it  stands  the  supreme  test — it  is  interesting." 

"  It  is  acute,  intelligent,  and  original,  showing  true  critical  instinct  and 
a  high  order  of  literary  culture." 

Whitcomb,  S,  L. — Chronological  Outlines  of  American 
Literature. 

I  vol.,  12°  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  «<r/  $1   25 

Matthews,    Brander.  —  Introduction    to   the   Study  of 
American  Literature. 
I  vol.,  12° net%\   CO 

Stedman,  E.  C. — Poets  of  America. 

I  vol.,  12° $2  25 

Contents  :  Early  and  Recent  Conditions,  Growth  of  American  School, 
Bryant,  Whittier,  Emerson,  Longfellow,  Poe,  Holmes,  Lowell,  Whitman, 
Taylor,  The  Outlook. 


Sug0e0tion0  tor  f)ou0ebold  libraries       139 

Tyler,  Moses  Coit. 

A  History  of  American  Literature  During  Colonial 

Times.     Part  I.:   1606-1676.     Part  II.:   1676-1765. 

2  vols.,  8°  (cheaper  edition,  2  vols,  in  i,  $3.00)    .         $5  00 

The  Literary  History  of  the  American  Revolution. 

Parti.:  1763-1776.     Part  II.:  1776-1783. 

2  vols.,  8" $6  00 

"A  History  of  American  Literature  ample,  exact,  and  highly  entertain- 
ing. To  Professor  Tyler  every  one  seriously  concerned  about  American 
literature  must  go.  Me  is  loyal  to  the  past  of  his  country  ;  and  even  the 
errors  of  loyalty  have  something  in  them  from  which  we  may  learn." — 
Edward  Dowden,  in   The  Academy. 

"  The  plan  of  Professor  Tyler's  book  is  so  vast  and  its  execution  so 
fearless,  that  no_ reader  can  expect  or  wish  to  agree  with  all  its  personal 
judgments.  It  is  a  book  truly  admirable  both  in  design  and  general  exe- 
cution ;  the  learning  great,  the  treatment  wise,  the  style  fresh  and  vigorous. 
Like  Parkman,  Professor  Tyler  may  almost  be  said  to  have  created,  not 
merely  his  volumes,  but  their  theme.  Like  Parkman,  at  any  rate,  he  has 
taken  a  whole  department  of  human  history,  rescued  it  from  oblivion,  and 
made  it  henceforward  a  matter  of  deep  interest  to  every  thinking  mind." 
—  The  Nation. 


Critical  Literary  Essays. 

Thackeray,  Wm.  M.  [in  Works]. — Eng^lish  Humorists 
of  the  Eighteenth  Century. 

Swift,  Congreve  and  Addison,  Steele,  Prior,  Gay  and  Pope,  Hogarth, 
SmoUet  and  Fielding,  Sterne  and  Goldsmith. 

Hazlitt,  William. — English  Poets  and  English  Comic 
Writers.     Sketches  and  Essays. 
2  vols.,    12°.  .......  net%2  00 

Hazlitt,  William. — The  Spirit  of  the  Age  :     Contempo- 
rary Portraits. 
X  vol.,  16°   ........         $1  00 

Contents  :  Hazlitt,  Godwin,  Coleridge,  Irving,  Scott,  Byron,  Southey, 
Wordsworth,  Gilford,  Jeffrey,  Cobbett,  CampTCll  and  Crabbe,  Moore, 
Hunt,  Elia  and  Geoffrey  Crayon,  Knowles. 

Curtis, — G.  W. — Literary  and  Social  Essays. 

I  vol.,  8° $2  50 

Contents :  Emerson,  Hawthorne,  Rachel,  Thackeray,  Sidney,  Long- 
fellow, Holmes,  Irving. 


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Homer.  Discourses  in  America. 

Culture      and      Anarchy.  Essays  in  Criticism.  Second 

Friendship's  Garland.  Series. 

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Austen,  Jane.     Works. 

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Wuthering  Heights.     2  v. 

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Albert  Savarus 
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Tours 


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Memoirs  of  Balzac 

TheChouans 

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tion 

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Memoirs  of  Two  Young  Mar- 
ried Women 

The  Village  Rector 

Lucien  de  Rubempr^ 

Ferragus,  Chief  of  the  D6vor- 
ants 

A  Start  in  Life 

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Beatrix 

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Gobseck 

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Juana 

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Life  of  Schiller 

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Chesterfield,  Lord.     Letters  to  his  Son.     Complete. 
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TIMES. 

A  Sketch  of  Literary  Conditions  and  of  the  Relations  with  the  Public 

of  Literary  Producers,  from  the  Earliest  Times  to  the  Fall  of  the 

Roman  Empire.     Second  edition,  revised,  12°,  gilt  top  .     $r  50 

"  The  book  abounds  in  information,  is  written  in  a  delightfully  succinct  and 
agreeable  manner,  with  apt  comparisons  that  are  often  humorous,  and  with 
scrupulous  exactness  to  statement,  and  without  a  sign  of  partiality  either  from  an 
author's  or  a  publisher's  point  of  view." — New  York  Times. 

BOOKS  AND  THEIR  MAKERS    DURING  THE 
MIDDLE  AGES. 

A  Study  of  the  Conditions  of  the  Production  and  Distribution  of 
Literature  from  the  Fall  of  the  Roman  Empire  to  the  Close  of 
the  Seventeenth  Century.     In  two  volumes,  8°,  cloth  extra  (sold 
separately),  each    .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .     $3  50 

Vol.  L,  476-1600.     Vol.  II.,  1500-1709. 

"  It  is  seldom  that  such  wide  learning,  such  historical  grasp  and  insight,  have 
been  employed  in  their  service." — Atlantic  Monthly. 

"It  is  a  book  to  be  studied  rather  than  merefy  praised.  .  .  .  That  its 
literary  style  is  perfect  is  acceptable  as  a  matter  of  course,  and  equally  of  course 
is  it  that  the  information  it  contains  bears  the  stamp  of  historical  verification." — 
New  York  Sun. 

THE  QUESTION  OF  COPYRIGHT. 

Comprising  the  text  of  the  Copyright  Law  of  the  United  States,  and 

a  summary  of  the  Copyright  laws  at  present  in  force  in  the  chief 

countries  of  the  world  ;  together  with  a  report  of  the  legislation 

now  pending  in  Great   Britain,  a  sketch  of  the  contest  in  the 

United  States,  1837-1891,  in  behalf  of  International  Copyright, 

and  certain  papers  on  the  development  of  the  conception  of 

literary  property  and  on  the  results  of  the  American  law  of  1891, 

Second  edition,  revised,  with  additions,  and  with  the  record  of 

legislation  brought  down  to  March,  1896.     8°,  gilt  top  .     $(  75 

"  A  perfect  arsenal  of  facts  and  arguments,  carefully  elaborated  and  very 
effectively  presented.  .  .  .  Altogether  it  constitutes  an  extremely  valuable 
history  of  the  development  of  a  very  intricate  right  of  property,  and  it  is  as  inter- 
esting  as  it  is  valuable." — New  York  Natian. 


Q.  P.  PUTNAM'S  SONS 
New  York:  37  West  aad  Street  London:   34  Bedford  St.,  Strand 


5ooo  Facts  and  Fancies 

A  Cyclopaedia  of  Important,  Curious,  Quaint, 
and  Unique  Information  in  History,  Literature, 
Science,  Art,  and  Nature.  Including  Note- 
worthy Historical  Events;  Civil,  Military,  and 
Religious  Institutions ;  Scientific  Facts  and 
Theories ;  Natural  Curiosities;  Famous  Build- 
ings, Monuments,  Statues,  Paintings,  and  other 
Works  of  Art  and  Utility ;  Celebrated  Liter- 
ary Productions;  Sobriquets  and  Nicknames; 
Literary  Pseudonyms;  Mythological  and 
Imaginary  Characters ;  Political  and  Slang 
Terms ;  Derivations  of  Peculiar  Words  and 
Phrases,  etc. 

By  WILLIAM  HENRY  P.  PHYFE 

Auth*r  of  "10,000  ^Vord8  Often  Mispronounced,"  "How 
Should  I  Pronounce  ?  "  etc. 


Half  leather ;  large  8°;  (by  mail,  $3.40)  net,  $3.00 


It  is  true  that  we  have  cyclopaedias  and  other  works 
of  reference  almost  without  number,  but  these  (or  rather 
the  most  of  them)  are  not  specially  devoted  to  unusual  or 
peculiar  facts,  and  hence  fail  to  furnish  the  information 
required.  In  the  case  of  the  books  that  do  exist,  they 
are  frequently  unknown  to  the  general  reader,  and,  in 
any  case,  would  prove  somewhat  expensive,  as  several  of 
them  would  be  needed  to  cover  the  field.  In  view  of  the 
above  facts,  it  has  been  thought  advisable  to  prepare  a 
work  —  moderate  in  size  and  price — that  should  contain 
the  leading  facts  and  fancies  found  in  such  miscellaneous 
volumes.  An  effort  has  been  further  made  to  render  the 
book  a  readable  one  as  well  as  a  work  of  reference,  thus 
making  its  perusal  a  profitable  exercise  in  moments  of 
leisure.  A  glance  at  the  sub-title  will  give  a  general  idea 
of  the  class  of  important  subjects  dealt  with. 


New  York    Q-  P-  Putnam's  Sons        London 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 

Los  Angeles 
This  book  is  DUE  on  the  last  date  stamped  below. 


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in. 


VLti   \Z  v^fik 


JAN  3  01973 


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3  1158  00156  8996 


III 


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